Earth-717: Iron Maiden Volume 1
by Over9000Pylons
Summary: An alternate time. An alternate world. Tasha Stark is a woman with a vision: to use innovative technology to make the world a better place. However, powerful enemies and a fatal mistake irreparably alter the course of her life. Backed into a corner by an adversary who could threaten her entire legacy, Tasha is thrust into the role of the armoured hero known as Iron Maiden.
1. Party Time

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 1: Party Time

Stane felt a small drop of sweat fall drip down his left temple. As it touched the rim of his glasses, he patted it away with his handkerchief, which he kept in the front pocket of his dress shirt. Placing the handkerchief back, he then looked at his watch. Exhaling loudly, Stane folded his hands and then put them back in his pocket. He started pacing up and down hallway, taking deliberate measures to not step on any of the cracks between the tiles on the stainless floor.

After a few minutes of this pacing, Stane checked his watch again. Grating his teeth, he looked back and forth down the hall. The only other items in the hall were two potted plants and a single couch. Rubbing the back of his neck, Stane pulled out his phone. Quickly typing a message, he sent his text and stuffed the phone back in his pocket. He checked his watch again. Sighing, he walked over to the door and pushed it open. He walked into the conference hall, and looked at the five people sitting at the table. Pepper was standing at the back of the room, holding her clipboard. She had a frown on her face.

"My deepest apologies, members of the board, for the delay . . . ."

"Where's Stark?" asked one of the board members.

Stane weakly chuckled.

"Um . . . . it appears that Ms. Stark is running late," replied Stane.

The board members let out a collective groan.

"However, I don't want to keep you waiting any longer," started Stane. "I know all of the information in this quarterly report, so I will go ahead and start the presentation."

Stane grabbed the remote off the table and pressed the button at the top. The blue display screen lit up across the presentation side of the room as the ceiling lights dimmed. The glow of the screen dimly lit the faces of everyone in the room. After a few seconds, a display of graphs and charts appeared.

"As of this month, stock has been steadily increasing," explained Stane. "Our early summer earnings forecast appears to be making up for our dips in May and June. While selling off major assets to Trask Industries had some of the stockholders nervous, recent gains in the energy syphoning programs and weapons divisions show that we're still on track for a very profitable year."

Stane pressed another button on the remote, causing the screen to flip to another set of charts.

"As well, recent poll coverage indicates that most of the public opinion has swayed in favour of not placing any blame on Stark Enterprises for the Tampa incident. Considering all that happened and how potentially liable we could have been, I would say that we managed to dodge a rather large bullet in that regard."

One of the other board members spoke.

"You mentioned recent developments in some of your projects. Could you tell us about those?"

"Of course, I was getting to that."

Stane, his palms sweaty, was about to press another button on the remote when he dropped it. Pepper placed her hand on her forehead.

"Uh, sorry . . . ."

Stane fumbled about as he crouched on the floor to pick up the remote. As he stood up, he bumped the back of his head against the table. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his head before hitting the button on the remote. The screen changed to a video and a set of images featuring a large scale arc reactor.

"In our joint-venture with Project Pegasus, we've managed to stabilize our arc reactor prototype. Previous models of the arc reactor were unable to properly store the energy that they syphoned from outside sources. However, our newest upgrades to the tech have managed to make the energy transition effective and manageable. Right now, our model is far too large for any kind of domestic application, but now that we've got the process down, we can work on miniaturizing it."

"What about the other one? The weapons division?"

"Right," said Stane.

Stane tapped the button again to show a large set of missiles being loaded out of a warehouse.

"Our Vindicator-class tridium missiles. We've managed to ascertain a cost-effective way to mass-produce them. After initial tests which are to be carried out in China, we're going to start making pitches to the military. They've already shown great interest, so we should be able to have these deployed in the field within eight months."

Stane tapped the last button on the remote. The screen faded as the ceiling lights turned back on. The board members sighed as Stane put his hands behind his back.

"These are promising reports, Mr. Stane, but next time, try to make sure Ms. Stark gets here on time to help you present them. You don't function very well on your own."

"Y-yes . . . . sir," replied Stane, putting his head down.

The board members got up and left the room in a single file line. After they left, the door shut, and Stane threw the remote at the wall, letting out a frustrated yell. Pepper cringed.

"Obadiah . . . ."

"I am so sick of this crap!" shouted Stane. "She does this all the time! She knows that I have anxiety when it comes to these things . . . ."

Stane exhaled and put his face in his hands. Pepper walked over and put her hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright . . . ."

"No, it's not alright," replied Stane, as he looked at Pepper. "Tasha and I have been through so much and I feel like she doesn't even care that . . . ."

"She does care," interrupted Pepper. "Obadiah, you've been Tasha's best friend since high school. She just gets . . . . carried away with her own personality. She lives larger than life. You don't. Leaving you out here to face the board yourself wasn't a nice thing to do, but I doubt she wanted to see you this upset."

Stane began to fiddle with his hands as he trembled.

"Well then where is she?"

* * *

The music that was playing was perfectly timed to the strobe lights which flickered through the club. Colours all across the visible spectrum turned on and off to the beat of the music. The disc-jockey, sporting a massive headset, bounced his head up and down with his eyes closed as he spun. Dozens of bodies stepped all over the place as they danced across the white tile floor. The disc-jockey then raised his hands as the last beat of the song echoed through the club.

"Alright everybody, let's hear some noise!"

The crowd cheered as most of the people stopped dancing and stood still.

"Alright, alright, this is DJ Mike, resident jockey for Purgatory! I got a request for Dazzler's latest hit, "Make Them Lights Move"! This one is for the only white girl I know who can actually dance . . . . the one . . . . the only . . . . Tasha Stark!"

The crowd screamed into applause as it parted to reveal Tasha at the centre of the dance floor. She whipped her long, flowing dark hair around, as she strutted forward. She was wearing a dark salmon coloured shirt, as well as similarly tinted, skin-tight pants. Her slender legs reached to the floor, capped off with black high heels. After striking a pose, she looked straight towards Mike.

"Hit it, Mike!"

The song started playing and Tasha began dancing by herself. Shaking her hips side to side, the golden rings she had on her right wrist bounced up and down her forearm. Several men whistled as other people clapped and cheered. She then turned away from the turntable. Mike's eyes widened.

"Damn!" shouted Mike. "Her booty game is off the charts!"

Tasha closed her eyes and smiled as she pumped her left fist into the air. She then gave a beckoning gesture to a nearby tall, black man, who walked up to her and grabbed her hand. He spun her around as she continued to dance. After a few moments, the crowd began to fill in the dance floor again. The scent of pheromones quickly filled the air.

Stane and Pepper walked into the club, pushing past sweaty and drunk patrons. As they approached the dance floor, they saw Tasha in the middle, her arms outstretched to her sides, drinking out of a wine bottle that was being held by the man she was dancing with. The crowd was cheering her on.

"Stark! Stark! Stark! Stark!"

After finishing the bottle, Tasha grabbed it and tossed it across the club and against a wall as people screamed in excitement. Stane sighed.

"I can't say I'm surprised."

Pepper walked up the dance floor, and saw Happy standing on the edge of it. He was wearing a clean black suit and had his hands held behind his back.

"Happy . . . ."

Happy turned to Pepper.

"Hey, Pep, what's . . . ."

"We're leaving," said Pepper. "Now."

Happy looked at Tasha, who was still dancing, and then back at Pepper.

"But . . . ."

"Now."

Happy sighed.

"Okay, okay."

Happy stepped up onto the dance floor and began to gently push the crowd apart. People moaned as they stepped off the white tiles. Mike slowly stopped playing the music as Tasha looked at him.

"Hey . . . ."

"Tasha," said Happy. "We've got to go."

"But . . . . it's not even two AM yet . . . ."

"Come on," said Happy. "Pepper and Obadiah are here."

"Oby and Peps?" said Tasha. "They should join me up here! Three's great but four's even better!"

Happy put his arm around Tasha's shoulders and began leading her off the dance floor. They walked up to Pepper and Stane. After they got off the floor, Mike began playing music again and the club's atmosphere was restored.

"Hey guys!" said Tasha.

"You didn't show up for the quarterly meeting," said Stane. "Again."

"Oh, don't worry about it," started Tasha. "I shouldn't have gone! I'm drunk! I would've looked like an idiot!"

Tasha laughed hysterically as Pepper rolled her eyes. Tasha then put on a straight face.

"Okay, okay," said Tasha. "I'm okay now. Seriously."

"Right," said Pepper.

"I don't know why you lot get so concerned," said Tasha. "Happy's here! I have my own personal guard-body."

"We're not concerned about your person, Tasha," replied Stane. "We're concerned about your personality."

"What?"

"You know that Obadiah has trouble doing these things on his own," said Pepper. "You're his business partner . . . . he needs you to care about the business."

Tasha furrowed her brow.

"Alright, alright . . . . go ahead, chastise me, whatever . . . ."

Stane rolled his eyes.

"It's not about chastising, Tasha," exclaimed Stane. "It's about you lacking any sense of responsibility when it comes to Stark Enterprises."

Stane turned around and walked off.

"Obadiah!" called out Tasha. "Obadiah! Shit."

Tasha walked off after him as Pepper and Happy followed. Stane exited the club and and started to walk down the street. Tasha ran up to him and grabbed at his arm.

"Can you just wait a second . . . ."

Tasha yanked on Stane's arm, twisting him around. He looked at her with an unimpressed face.

"Look, I'm sorry that I made you go to that meeting by yourself, okay?" started Tasha. "I . . . . completely forgot about it . . . . I never meant to upset you, okay? Come on, Oby, we've been best buds for so long . . . . don't stay mad at me, okay?"

Tasha stepped up to Stane.

"Here."

Tasha reached out and adjusted Stane's glasses, and then fixed his hair. After gently massaging his smooth face, she then grabbed both of his shoulders.

"There. You're all fixed up," said Tasha. "Are we okay?"

Stane breathed in deeply and then sighed. He took a few seconds before responding.

"Yeah," replied Stane. "We're okay."

"Good," said Tasha. "I'll see you later, buddy."

She then let go of his arms gently slapped him on the shoulder before turning around and walking towards her car. Happy followed after her as Stane and Pepper got in their own car. As she was about to get in, a man with blond hair ran up to her with a microphone.

"Ms. Stark!"

Happy immediately blocked the man's movement. Tasha looked at him.

"Ms. Stark! Christian Everhart, with Vanity Fair. I just wanted to ask a couple of questions."

Happy looked at Tasha. Tasha nodded. Happy moved out of the way as Christian stepped up.

"Thank you."

"What do you want to know, Christian?" asked Tasha, folding her arms.

"I've been working on an exposé about the terrorist attack on Tampa back in May, trying to find out as much information I can about the back story . . . ."

"Where's your question, pal?"

"What do you say to the rumours that it was actually your employee, Walter Macken, who was responsible for the Sentinel attack?"

"Absolutely ridiculous," answered Tasha. "Macken is a good employee who was caught in a bad situation."

"So you're saying that no one at Stark Enterprises was at all responsible for the destruction caused by your creations?"

Tasha unfolded her arms.

"Look, we built the prison that's currently keeping Magneto locked away," said Tasha. "There's not much profit to be made in domestic terrorism, kid."

"Really? That seems quite odd, given that the Sentinels' main goal was the elimination of mutants, who, if I might remind you, include American citizens."

Tasha narrowed her eyes.

"You want to get into questioning my company? Fine, but you question my integrity as an American, then you're going too far. The Sentinels are no longer with Stark Enterprises anymore. You want to talk about mutant-hunting robots? Go to Bolivar Trask."

Happy looked back and forth between Tasha and Christian.

"Amazing," said Christian. "You absolutely refuse to take any responsibility for anything. Do you ever lose an hour of sleep over your lack of accountability?"

Tasha looked up and down Christian's body.

"I'd be prepared to lose a few with you," replied Tasha.

* * *

Tasha pushed Christian into her room. Her pants were already off, and she ripped off her shirt. Grabbing Christian's face and pulling it to hers, she began to unbutton his shirt. He pulled down his own pants, followed by his underwear, all without breaking lips with her. Tossing his shirt to the floor, Tasha then pulled down her panties as he undid her bra. Tasha pushed Christian onto her bed and jumped on top of him.


	2. Preparation

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 2: Preparation

Christian's sleep was interrupted when he felt the rays of the morning sun hit his eyes. Moaning, he attempted to endure the rays for a few seconds before putting up his hand. The heat of the sun massaged his skin, but he could feel that he would not be able to sleep any longer. Opening his eyes, he pushed himself up and off the mattress to see that he was alone, the sheets covering most of his body.

"Good morning, sir."

"Ah!"

Christian almost fell off the bed out of shock in response to the computerized voice he heard. It was a female voice with a British accent.

"The time is seven fifty-four AM. Sunny skies are expected the entire day. Do you require a refreshing beverage?"

"Who are you?" asked Christian.

"I am Just A Naturally Intelligent Computer Entity, otherwise referred to as Janice. I am Ms. Stark's personal artificial intelligence assistant. I manage the household and all of Ms. Stark's projects."

"Where is Tasha?"

"Ms. Stark is in the lab," replied Janice. "She has been there for over an hour. Your clothes have already been cleaned and pressed, and are available at the laundry console in the right-hand corner of the room, next to the door."

Christian looked over to the right with bewilderment. Walking over to the laundry console, a flap opened and held out his clothes, perfectly folded and clean. He grabbed the shirt and smelled it. Nodding his head, he quickly got himself dressed. As he was putting on his watch, he walked up to the other side of the bedroom, with a massive glass window where the wall should be. It showed a view of the Pacific Ocean, as the house was plugged into the side of a cliff face.

He then turned to the door and opened it, walking through to the main living area. As he did, he was approached by Pepper, who was in a black business dress. Holding her clipboard, she walked up to Christian.

"Mr. Everhart," said Pepper.

"Do I know you?"

"No," replied Pepper. "My name is Patricia Potts."

"Pepper Potts?"

"Yes."

"You're Tasha's secretary, right?"

"That's a gross over-simplification," answered Pepper. "I manage all of Ms. Stark's daily appointments, keep track of the household duties that Janice cannot handle, maintain all levels of communication between Ms. Stark and her employees, screen all incoming messages, assist with cooking where necessary and attend to any other needs that Ms. Stark requests that don't necessarily fall under my direct job description, but yes, if you wish, you may refer to me as a secretary."

Christian's eyes widened.

"Okay . . . ."

"As with all of Ms. Stark's house guests, a car has been prepared for you that will drop you off at any location of your choosing free of charge."

"Uh, the house computer . . . ." started Christian.

"Janice," said Janice.

"Janice, right . . . . she said that Tasha was in the lab."

"Yes?"

"Can I see her?"

"Well, I suppose . . . . but she usually doesn't like being disturbed while she's working," said Pepper. "It's down the circular stairs."

Christian looked behind him to see the stairs and then gave Pepper a thumbs up. She nodded but then rolled her eyes when he turned around. He walked down the circular stairs. As he did, he began to hear a loud song behind played. He recognized it as Scorpions' "No One Like You". Looking around once he reached the bottom, he saw Tasha sitting on a stool, with only a T-shirt, panties, gloves and welding mask on. She was holding a miniaturized blowtorch over a piece of cylindrical metal. Christian watched her work for a few seconds before knocking on the door. She didn't respond.

"Hey!"

The music turned off and Tasha folded up her welding mask. She looked at Christian with a confused look for a moment as she chewed the gum in her mouth.

"You're still here?"

"Yeah . . . ."

"Didn't Pepper get your car?"

"She did . . . . but I wanted to talk to you for a second."

Tasha narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"I wanted to know what you're doing next week . . . ."

"Stop right there, cowboy," said Tasha. "I hope you didn't fall in love last night, although I wouldn't blame you if you did. I'm not into the whole 'going steady' thing . . . . especially with unprofessional journalists."

Christian scoffed.

"Unprofessional . . . .?"

Tasha smirked.

"I wouldn't try to run your little exposé now, considering how close you got to a primary source."

Christian furrowed his brow. Tasha chuckled.

"But . . . ."

"Here's how this works, cowboy," explained Tasha. "I got on, you got in. I got off, now you get out. You want another round, make an appointment with Pepper, but if you start bringing up 'dates' and shit like that then you're looking in the wrong place, bucko."

Christian exhaled loudly and then turned around and walked upstairs. Tasha smiled to herself before blowing a bubble with the gum. After it popped she spun in her chair and turned to look back at the piece she was working on before Pepper walked down the stairs.

"You're going to be late for your appointment in China," said Pepper.

"Who makes appointments in China?" asked Tasha.

"You did," answered Pepper. "Weapons test for the tridium missiles."

"That sounds like something that Obadiah would schedule. Nerd."

"He had to, because you weren't paying attention to the messages he was sending you."

"Of course I pay attention to . . . ."

"Janice," interrupted Pepper. "how many unopened messages does Ms. Stark have from Obadiah Stane?"

"Four hundred and fifty two, ma'am."

Tasha put on a straight face.

"Okay, maybe I haven't been paying attention the last few days . . . . the point is, relax, Pep, I'll make it in time."

"Obadiah was expecting you at the airfield in about thirty minutes."

"Ace. I'll be there."

"It's a seventy minute drive."

"Then I'll take the Murciélago," replied Tasha. "I'll be there with time to spare."

"The average level of speed required for such a task would be highly illegal, ma'am," said Janice.

"Oh come on, if I get pulled over I'll just flash the cop," said Tasha. "I'm a celebrity! I can get away with things like that! Why does everyone have to get all uppity around me? Just relax!"

"You're making that very difficult, Tasha," said Pepper.

"I can make it not difficult," said Tasha. "I could get you a glass of wine."

"Have you already been drinking this morning?"

"Is that even a legitimate question?"

Pepper rolled her eyes and turned around.

"Pep . . . . Pep!"

Pepper walked up the stairs without responding. Tasha threw up her arms and then put them back down. Sighing, she spun around on her stool.

"I believe Ms. Potts might be slightly perturbed about something, ma'am."

"Thanks for the deduction, Sherlock."

* * *

Stane sneered as Tasha pulled up to the plane in her Lamborghini. She had her sunglasses on. Looking at Stane, she smiled and waved, and Stane weakly smiled and waved back. Clambering out of the car, Tasha walked around it and then ran up the loading stairs.

"You're late," said Stane.

"Correction," said Tasha. "I'm fabulously late."

"That's hardly . . . ."

Tasha grabbed Stane and kissed him on the cheek. His eyes widened.

"Don't worry about it, baby," said Tasha. "Let's just get a move on and we'll blame it on the traffic."

"Aerial traffic?"

"Just calm down and get on the plane already."

Tasha walked in, followed by Stane. Taking a seat at the main table, Tasha kicked up her feet and placed them on top of it. Stane sat down next to her. A blonde flight attendant walked up to the table. She smiled at the two of them.

"Do you require anything, Ms. Stark?"

"A drink. No ice, no drink. Just your name and number on a piece of paper in the glass. Wouldn't want it getting wet, now would we?"

The attendant laughed.

"Anything for you, Mr. Stane?"

"Just a Coke, thanks."

"Screw that!" exclaimed Tasha. "I want some scotch."

The attendant nodded and turned around. The plane began to take off.

"Don't be a pansy, Oby," said Tasha. "Have a drink with me. A real drink."

"You know that I don't drink alcohol, Tasha," replied Stane. "and I've told you over and over that I hate that name."

"Ah, who cares what people call you? You're rich! I'm rich! We've got it made, Obadiah, but you're still always so tense. You need to relax. Alcohol can help you with that."

"I've been perfectly fine my entire life without it."

"I know," said Tasha. "I've had to put up with you this long."

Tasha laughed as Stane rolled her eyes.

"Jeez man, do you ever have fun?"

Stane pulled out his phone after hearing the message alert.

"On occasion."

"Who you texting? A girl?"

"No."

" A guy?"

"Your investigative skills are impeccable," said Stane.

"Oh, don't give me that," said Tasha. "I get enough of that from Janice."

Stane finished typing his message and sent it off. The attendant arrived with an open coke and a glass of scotch, handing the beverages out.

"Thank you," said Stane.

Tasha took a large sip of her drink.

"No, seriously, who are you texting?"

"No one in particular."

Tasha narrowed her eyes.

"Obadiah Stane keeping secrets? That's not like you, buddy."

"I don't have to share everything with you, Tasha."

"Fair enough. Have it your way."

Tasha took another sip of her drink. Stane put the Coke can to his lips and drank in. As he did, he looked over at Tasha, who wasn't paying attention to him. He then finished his sip and placed the can back on the table. The attendant returned with a remote.

"Ms. Stark?"

"Yo."

"You have a video call. An Aldrich Killian? He says that he had an appointment to speak with you."

Tasha raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, put him through."

The video screen in front of the table lit up. On the screen was the face of a handsome, blonde man with slicked hair and a strong jaw line. His blue eyes seemed to pierce through the screen. Tasha took another sip of her drink.

"Tasha Stark," said the man. "So nice to finally see you again."

"Again?"

"My name is Aldrich Killian. We actually met a few years back at a scientific conference in Switzerland . . . . I'm not sure if you'd remember."

"Not quite," replied Tasha. "So, Mr. Killian, what can I do for you?"

"I am the leader of a scientific corporation named Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM for short," started Killian. "I have become aware of your recent breakthroughs with your arc reactor technology."

Stane looked at Tasha for a moment before looking back at the screen.

"Your work with energy syphoning is quite fascinating to several of my team members, since we are working on similar projects. I wanted to know if we could bring you in for a consultation on the matter, and perhaps bring AIM in on the arc reactor project. I have some incredible minds who would love to work with you."

"Well, Aldrich, it seems like you want my help . . . . but what would I be getting from you, exactly?"

"I assure you, our scientific expertise would be most helpful in taking the arc reactor technology to even greater lengths."

"I'm not so sure . . . ."

Stane looked at Tasha again.

"Look," started Tasha. "I already have my hands full with Project Pegasus. Bringing in another major player at this stage is risky. I'll think about it, but I can't guarantee anything."

"I understand completely," replied Killian. "Keep in touch, Ms. Stark. AIM has had its eyes on you for quite some time."

The video feed cut out. Tasha finished her drink, and beckoned for the attendant to bring her another.


	3. Vision

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 3: Vision

Tasha's sunglasses kept the rays of the afternoon sun out of her eyes. Stepping out of the jeep, she looked around at the Chinese mountains surrounding her. Taking in the serene view, she then looked over to the right to see a group of military officials standing there, who were guarded by a squad of armed soldiers. Amongst the officials was a black man in an Air Force uniform who was just slightly taller than her. Holding her champagne glass, she strutted over to the group, taking a sip as she did. She walked straight towards the man and tapped the rim of her sunglasses.

"Here to show me a good time, handsome?" asked Tasha.

"I doubt you need it," replied Rhodes.

Tasha chuckled to herself. Rhodes smirked. She then reached up and grabbed the side of his face, and pulled him in for a kiss on the cheek. After pulling back, Rhodes shook his head while smiling.

"Even after all this time, you're still trouble."

"How's it hanging, Rhodey? Still the straight edge we've all come to expect and love?"

"Given that I haven't been discharged," said Rhodes, "I would say that I still qualify for your idea of a straight edge."

"See? You still got some banter in you yet."

Rhodes gestured towards the man standing next to him. He was a tall, older man with a thick, grey moustache.

"Tasha, this is General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross," said Rhodes. "He's the commanding officer who will be evaluating your weapons demonstration."

Tasha stuck out her hand. Ross nodded and shook it.

"General."

"Ms. Stark."

Tasha and Ross let go of each other's hands.

"You're not still chasing urban legends, are you?"

Rhodes glared at Tasha. Ross scowled.

"Eh . . . . never mind," said Tasha. "Let's focus on what you came here to see . . . . me blowing the tar out of the Chinese landscape of your choice."

Tasha then started walking towards the missile launcher. It was a large contraption attached to a wheeled kart. It was holding four of the tridium missiles, and was pointing them at a forty five degree angle into the sky. Tasha ran her finger along the edge of the device as she walked past it. She then turned around and looked back at Ross and Rhodes.

"This," started Tasha, "is my personally designed, portable high-explosive weapon-launching platform. Designed to be manoeuvrable through any kind of combat terrain, it is extremely durable and capable of defending itself with built-in fifty cal automatic turrets which are guided by an internal smart-computer capable of differentiating between friend and foe. As well, it has a built-in self-destruct protocol to ensure that it cannot be captured by enemy forces. However, that's not even getting to the juicy bits."

Tasha then snapped her finger, and the missiles aimed at a higher angle.

"Strapped into this moving death machine are four tridium missiles. Now, they might not look much different from your typical bunker busters, but what's inside them is what's important. The tridium inside the missiles is capable of absorbing and temporarily storing solar energy. Give them a bit of time to charge in the sun, and it increases their payload exponentially to the point that you've essentially got a miniature and environmentally friendly nuclear weapon, without any of the Chernobyl-esque side-effects afterwards."

Rhodes and Ross nodded their heads.

"But . . . . you're not paying me to gab about it," said Tasha. "Let's go level some mountains."

Tasha walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked towards the nearest mountain. Tasha pointed directly at it, and the missile launcher aimed for the peak. Ross, Rhodes and several other military officials stood behind her. Stane walked up to her, holding a small hologram tablet. It was composed of two plastic bars which connected a series of hard-light holograms that simulated a viewing screen.

"Talk to me," demanded Tasha.

"The missiles are charged and ready," replied Stane. "Solar energy influx has the current estimated payload at six hundred and eighty four percent."

"That should be suitable," said Tasha, laughing. "Fire when ready, Obadiah."

Stane tapped a number combination into the hologram keypad.

"Launch sequence initiated," reported Stane. "Missile locked. Firing now."

Tasha smiled. The launcher locked the first missile into firing position. After a brief moment, the end of the missile lit up, and it blasted off into the sky. A trail of smoke was left behind as it carved its path through the air. As it flew towards the peak of the mountain, the missile began to glow with bright, orange light. It then impacted on the peak. For a second, all sound seemed to drain from the atmosphere. Then, a massive shock-wave shattered the top half of the mountain. The remaining rock then imploded, and began to crumble on top of itself. Within ten seconds, the mountain was almost completely disintegrated.

Tasha turned around to face the officials. She then held out one arm to the side.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you . . . . the Vindicator."

The officials all clapped loudly. Rhodes smiled and nodded at Tasha, who winked back at him. Ross walked up to Tasha. Stane looked at her and then turned and walked back to the jeep that they arrived in.

"Congratulations, Ms. Stark," said Ross. "I believe you've just made a very lucrative sale."

"It's what I do," replied Tasha. "My legal team will be in contact with the Air Force within the week. We'll draw up a contract."

"Very good," said Ross. "Excellent work, as . . . ."

Ross' sentence was interrupted with a rocket colliding with one of the military jeeps. The explosion knocked some of the soldiers down. Tasha looked at the explosion.

"Holy shit!"

The soldiers who were still standing turned around as bullets began to fire into the group. One of the officials was cut down by gunfire almost immediately. Rhodes moved to push the other officials to the ground as the soldiers took cover behind the remaining vehicles and began to open fire. Ross shoved Tasha to the ground behind him and pulled out a pistol before turning towards where the gunfire was coming from. Ross fired a couple of shots before ducking behind a nearby jeep.

Tasha, on her knees, looked out from behind the jeep to see the face of one of the soldiers get ripped apart by bullets. As she crumpled to the floor, another soldier fired a grenade round into the bushes outside the area they were in.

"Fire coming in from all directions!" shouted one of the soldiers. "Unknown number of hostiles!"

"Rhodey!" shouted Tasha. "Obadiah?!"

Tasha looked around, but couldn't see either of them. As another explosion rocked the battle ground, Tasha used the dust as the concealment she needed to dash towards the missile launcher. The launcher unfolded its internal machine gun turrets and began to scan the area.

"Scanning for hostiles," said the computer's voice.

The launcher portion twisted around towards the nearby bushes.

"Hostiles detected."

The wheels on the launcher turned as the machine gun turrets opened fire into the bushes. Screams were heard as the bullets tore through two of the enemy soldiers. More soldiers emerged from their cover and began firing their weapons at the launcher. The enemy soldiers were wearing simple clothes and face-masks, wielding assault rifles.

Tasha tapped a button on the side of the launcher and a keyboard popped out of the side. She began typing into the console.

"Defensive mode activated by master command protocol."

The launcher then began to move towards the nearby soldiers, providing them with covering fire. Behind one of the nearby jeeps, Rhodes looked up.

"Tasha! What are you doing?!"

"Trying to keep your troops alive!" shouted Tasha.

Another enemy rocket hit the launcher, knocking Tasha to the ground. Rhodes shouted and fired his rifle, cutting down one of the enemy soldiers. One of the machine gun turrets was shredded apart by the impact of the rocket, and the other began firing wildly.

"Targeting impaired."

Two of the enemy soldiers ran up to the launcher and climbed on top of it. Tasha's eyes widened.

"No! Stop!"

"Unit integrity compromised. Self destruct protocol initiated."

Tasha gasped and threw up her arms in front of her face as the launcher exploded. The two enemy soldiers on top of it were ripped apart by the force of the blast. Tasha flew backwards into a rock, smashing the back of her skull against it. As she collapsed on the ground, she felt the metal shrapnel piercing the skin on her chest. Hyperventilating, Tasha could feel the blood pouring out the lacerations on her torso as her consciousness faded.

* * *

"Stark . . . . Stark! Wake up . . . ."

Tasha was jarred into alertness by the feeling of cold water colliding with her face. Sputtering, Tasha blinked furiously as she looked around. Shaking her head and gasping for air, all she could see were blurred lines and coloured shapes.

"Ms. Stark."

She felt something lightly tapping her left cheek repeatedly. Closing her eyes for a moment as she slowed her breathing, Tasha then reopened her eyes for a clearer view. She could see that the ceiling above her was made out of rock. She blinked a couple more times as the tapping stopped. She then looked to the left to see a man sitting next to her on a stool. He was an older man with large glasses and wrinkled features. He smiled at her.

"Ms. Stark," the man said. "Welcome back to the realm of the living."

Tasha closed her mouth and began breathing through her nose. Swallowing the saliva that was in her throat, she then looked around at her surroundings. The entire room was made of rock and dust, and there was a large amount of haphazard mechanical parts laying around.

"Who are you?" asked Tasha. "Where am I?"

Tasha began to move, but the man put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Don't move," he commanded. "It's not fully charged yet."

"What's not fully . . . ."

Tasha looked down at her chest to see various wires plugged into it. However, they were going into her flesh; a circular hole had been carved out of her sternum, and was filled with a metal tube. The wires entered the tube, from which a small amount of light was emanating.

"Oh shit . . . ." said Tasha. "Oh shit . . . ."

Tears welled in her eyes. She began hyperventilating again.

"Oh fuck . . . ."

The man stood up and placed his hand on her collar bone. He pressed down very gently. She swallowed again and kept breathing through her mouth.

"Calm yourself, Tasha," he said.

She stared right into his brown eyes.

"Am . . . ."

Tasha took a moment.

"Am I going to die?"

"No," he replied. "The contraption I made will keep you alive . . . . for now."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Yinsen. Doctor Ho Yinsen. I built an electromagnet that's been embedded into your chest. It's the only reason you're still alive."

Tasha closed her mouth and began breathing through her nose again.

"Where are we?"

"A cave . . . . somewhere . . . . I cannot be sure. I'm just as much of a prisoner here as you are."

"Prisoner of whom?"

"A group that calls themselves the Jade Dragons. They've been terrorizing these lands for quite some time."

Yinsen looked over at a machine that was out of Tasha's line of sight. He then looked back at her.

"Charging is complete," he said. "You can move now."

Tasha pushed up off the metal slab using her elbows. She moved her legs so they were hanging off the edge of the bed. Taking a moment to breathe while in the sitting position, she then looked over at the machine Yinsen had been looking at.

"Is that . . . . a car battery?"

"It is indeed," replied Yinsen. "Amazing, how one can find uses for things in the direst of situations. That car battery is powering the electromagnet in your heart. Without it, the shrapnel in your chest would've ripped your insides apart."

Tasha was silent for a long while, staring at the floor. She then looked at Yinsen.

"Thank you."

Yinsen smiled and nodded in response. A banging noise was then heard from the door. Tasha looked up and Yinsen turned around. The door opened, and a group of armed men entered the room. They were followed by a man in a green coat and a long scarf. The man, with narrowed eyes, surveyed the room and then look directly at the two prisoners.

"Yinsen," said the man. "Will she live?"

"She will," replied Yinsen.

The man sneered and walked closer. He stared directly at Tasha, who returned his gaze. He then raised his neck, elevating his face above hers.

"Well . . . . how the tide has turned," said the man. "The great and untouchable Tasha Stark . . . . reduced to nothing more than a shrivelling cripple in captivity."

The man chuckled. Tasha scoffed.

"Well, you're not exactly offering the service of a Kempinski . . . ."

The man backhanded Tasha across the face. Yinsen cringed. The man glared at her.

"Don't you dare mock me, Stark! I could end you at any time."

Tasha furrowed her brow and looked back at him.

"So then why am I alive, good sir?"

"Because you are going to do something for me, in gratitude for allowing you to live."

"What would that be?"

"We attempted to take control of your mobile missile platform," explained the man. "Obviously, that plan has failed. However, while we do not possess the weapon we desire, we do have its manufacturer."

Tasha let out a single laugh.

"So . . . . a missile launcher," said Tasha. "Sure you don't have one already?"

"Glib will not keep you alive, Ms. Stark. Your engineering skills will. Your job is to assemble my weapon. Doctor Yinsen's job is to keep you in working condition. I will have the materials you require delivered to you. I suggest you get to work as soon as you can."

Tasha glared at the man and fumed. He smirked.

"One last thing," said Tasha.

The man raised an eyebrow.

"To who do I owe the thanks for such gracious hospitality?"

The man glared at Tasha.

"I am Wong-Chu," he replied. "and I am your master now."

Wong-Chu turned around and left the room, followed by his guards. The door slammed behind them, and the sound echoed throughout the room.


	4. Forging Heroes

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 4: Forging Heroes

Tasha pulled the bottle off of the table and put it to her lips. Taking a tiny gulp, she revelled in the small amount of relief that the nourishing liquid provided to her parched throat. Coughing, she handed the bottle to Yinsen, who took it with a nod. After he also took a tiny gulp, he screwed the cap back on and placed it back on the table.

Placing her hands in the bowl, Tasha mashed the orange powder in it with her hands. Each bit of powder massaged her skin just as much as she massaged it. The powder flowed between her fingers as she pressed into it. Yinsen handed her a small piece of sheet metal, which she placed over top the bowl of powder. Moving over to the forge, she used the tongs to pull out the container holding the liquid metal she had placed earlier. Yinsen grabbed the bowl and held it steady.

Tasha narrowed her eyes as she focused on the bowl. Her breathing slowed as she reached the desk. She looked at Yinsen, who nodded again. Looking back at the bowl, she slowly tipped the tongs, allowing the liquid to flow easily into the bowl of powder. The sheet of metal ensured that the only liquid that reached the powder was in the shape of a ring. After the pouring was complete, Tasha placed the tongs and empty container on a nearby stand. Sitting back down at the table, she took a set of tweezers and lifted the sheet of metal off of the bowl of powder. Placing the sheet in the tong container, she then took the tweezers and lifted the newly forged iron ring. Holding it in front of her, she inspected it from all angles as Yinsen watched.

In one of the upper corners of the room, a lone security camera was placed, aiming down towards Tasha and Yinsen. A small blinking red light was attached to it, next to the lens. The camera was wired directly into Wong-Chu's command room, which contained several makeshift computers and television screens. Sitting as his chair, he had one hand on his chin. Snarling, he stared at the screen which displayed the feed from the security camera. He watched as Tasha took the small metal ring and placed it inside of a small piece of tupperware as Yinsen prepared another container on the forge.

One of Wong-Chu's soldiers walked up to him.

"Commander," he said.

Wong-Chu did not turn around to address him.

"Report."

"The villagers have surrendered," said the soldier. "We're moving in to take supplies and prisoners. After that, we'll be going on to the next town per your orders. As well, more materials have arrived. We'll be ready to deliver them to Stark within thirty minutes."

Wong-Chu sneered.

"Good. Tell me when they're ready to go."

"Yes sir."

The soldier turned around and left the room. Wong-Chu continued to stare at the screen as Tasha began putting her hands into another bowl of powder.

* * *

Wiping the dirt off her forehead with a soiled rag, Tasha sighed as she strung the copper wire around the metal ring she had made. The taste of grime in her mouth had become near unbearable to her, but she did not reach for the little amount of water they had left. Gulping down the sludge she had in her mouth, Tasha cringed as she continued to string the wire. After she was done, she set the metal ring down and scratched at her neck.

Looking down, she saw that the dirt had piled up on her clothes. Rubbing her left hand against her shirt, she then stared at her palm. The dust and gunk caked on her filled in the creases in the skin of her palm. She focused on her hand for a long while.

"I would think that tarnished clothes and filthy hands would be the least of your concerns."

Tasha turned around to see Yinsen walking up to her, holding a pan and a wooden spoon. He was gently scrapping the spoon against the pan, stirring the brown muck and beans inside of it.

"I suppose the menu hasn't changed," said Tasha.

"I'm afraid not," replied Yinsen. "Wong-Chu doesn't much care for the nutritional needs of his captives."

Tasha turned back to the table and grabbed the small piece of circular glass attached to the core that she had prepared earlier. Putting it in place over the metal ring, she then pushed it in and tightened the seal as the entire device began to glow with radiant blue light. Yinsen looked at it with a raised eyebrow as he continued to stir.

"What . . . . what is that?"

Tasha smirked, but did not turn to Yinsen.

"This, my friend . . . . is a miniaturized arc reactor," Tasha explained. "The prototype technology is back in the States, but I figured the project deserved some attention now that I'm . . . . here."

"What does it do?"

"It's a fully self-sufficient power source that is also capable of syphoning energy. It'll be able to replace your device and, hopefully, keep me alive for as long as I live."

"Incredible . . . ."

Yinsen began coughing violently as he walked up to Tasha. She immediately stood up and grabbed the pan from him, placing it on her stool. She then wrapped her arm around Yinsen and supported him as he keeled over, coughing. He dropped the spoon on the ground.

"Excu . . . . ugh . . . . excuse me."

"It's okay," said Tasha. "Get it out."

Yinsen hacked and coughed some more into his hand as Tasha held him upright. His glasses almost fell of his face, but Tasha pushed them back into place. She then grabbed the water bottle and held it to his mouth.

"No, Stark, I don't . . . ."

"Drink it."

Tasha poured the last of the water into Yinsen's mouth. He allowed it to sit for a moment before swallowing. She then placed the now empty bottle on the bench next to her as she helped him sit down. Yinsen sighed. For a few minutes, they just sat on the bench together in silence, with Tasha's arm around Yinsen's shoulder.

"You continue to surprise me, Stark."

Tasha raised an eyebrow.

"Continue? When did I do it the first time?"

"Six years ago, when we first met."

"We did?"

Yinsen chuckled.

"We did indeed," said Yinsen. "Technology conference in Bern. We only spoke for a couple of minutes. Considering how intoxicated you were, I'm not offended that you don't remember."

Tasha snickered and grinned.

"Why am I not surprised . . . ."

"Now, you're helping an old man like me with what little strength you have left . . . . when you should be using it to help yourself . . . . why?"

Tasha looked at him.

"Why would you care what happens to me?"

"I could ask you the same thing," replied Tasha. "You saved my life . . . . I figured I owe you that much."

Yinsen chuckled.

"Always selling yourself short. You're just like your father."

Tasha's eyes widened as she looked over at Yinsen.

"You knew . . . ."

"Of course I did," replied Yinsen.

Yinsen looked forward and smiled.

"I remember the last time I saw your parents," Yinsen started. "They had come to visit me in my home . . . . probably not that far from where we are now."

Yinsen coughed again. Tasha stared at him.

"He had wanted to see me because of my work with surgical equipment . . . . it was for your mother."

Tasha felt her facial muscles start to quiver.

"When she fell ill, he believed that my prototype electromagnets might have been able to save her from her heart . . . . I tried my best, but she was too far gone . . . ."

Tasha let a single tear stream down her face.

"She died on my operating table. You were only two years old when it happened. After your mother died, your father told me that, despite all we had been through, he couldn't bear to stay in contact with me any longer. I always kept you in mind after that . . . . you must have had no idea of your significance to me when we first met."

Tasha bit her bottom lip as another tear fell out of her eye.

"I must have been . . . . such a disappointment."

"Not at all . . . . you couldn't have known."

Yinsen stared forward as Tasha looked at him. They were silent again for a few moments.

"My father . . . . he told me she died in a car crash."

"I know," replied Yinsen. "He couldn't have you know the truth . . . ."

"The truth?"

"That her heart was nearly destroyed by a malfunction in one of his machines."

Tasha frowned as she closed her eyes in pain.

"His entire life . . . . he had tried to build things to help people . . . . and one design flaw killed the love of his life. It broke your father's heart. He never forgave himself after that. He would always mention how he was a flawed man in the press afterwards . . . . never letting go of the pain of one mistake."

Tasha reopened her eyes and looked back at Yinsen.

"I wasn't able to save your mother . . . . but I was able to save you . . . . with the same type of electromagnet that I put in her heart."

Yinsen tapped the electromagnet on Tasha's chest with his finger.

"Funny how things work out, isn't it?"

Yinsen coughed again as Tasha allowed herself to cry. After she wiped away the last of her tears, she sighed and looked back at him.

"My mother . . . ."

Tasha stopped. She looked down for a moment before looking back at Yinsen.

"What was she like?"

Yinsen smiled again.

"She had one of the warmest hearts I've ever known," Yinsen replied. "She was also a hell of a stubborn woman."

Yinsen and Tasha shared a short laugh.

"I remember . . . . she kept telling Howard not to worry. She was going to be just fine . . . ."

Tasha closed her eyes again for a brief moment.

"I don't remember anything about her," said Tasha.

"You would've loved her as much as she loved you," replied Yinsen.

Tasha closed her eyes and placed her forehead against Yinsen's temple. Yinsen breathed in and sighed heavily. After a few moments, Tasha pulled herself up again and looked at him. He turned to look at her.

"I wanted to ask," started Tasha, "you said that I was always selling myself short. Why is that?"

Yinsen nodded.

"I'll tell you what I mean when we leave here," said Yinsen.

Tasha bit her lip again as she looked at him with red eyes. She nodded.

"Okay."

Tasha took her arm off of Yinsen's shoulders and stood up off the bench. She grabbed the pan off the stool and placed it on the bench next to him. As he looked down, he noticed the wooden spoon on the floor.

"Well . . . . that's unfortunate."

Tasha looked at him and snickered.

"I would think that dirty spoons would be the least of your concerns."

Yinsen looked up at Tasha and laughed. Tasha smiled at him before looking back at the arc reactor.

"I'm going to need your help with this."

Yinsen stood up and walked over to her.

"I'm going to take out your electromagnet," explained Tasha. "I need you to plug in the reactor. I might not be able to do it myself after the magnet is offline."

"Okay."

Yinsen grabbed the arc reactor and held it up to Tasha's chest. She grabbed onto the wires and pulled, shouting as she did so. After a few seconds of struggle, she yanked the electromagnet out of her chest, and began to gasp for air. Yinsen quickly plugged the arc reactor into the metal tube in her chest and twisted it into place. A soft humming noise was heard as the arc reactor glowed. Tasha sighed and breathed slowly for a few seconds.

"Are you alright?" asked Yinsen.

"I'll be fine," replied Tasha. "Let's get to work."


	5. Mark One

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 5: Mark One

Biting into his apple, the soldier walked down the cavern hallway alongside his partner. The delectable juice ran down his gullet as he crunched down on the flesh of the fruit. Munching as he walked, the soldier adjusted his shoulder, over which was strapped his assault rifle. Taking another bite, he tossed the core against the wall as he continued to chew. Coming up to the large metal door, he looked over at his partner, who nodded. He raised his hand and knocked on the door twice with his knuckles. After that, he swallowed his food as he opened the eye slit and peered into the room.

"Yinsen!"

He could not see either Tasha or Yinsen. Narrowing his view as he scanned his pupils horizontally, eventually he noticed a small amount of movement behind a large pile of machinery.

"Yinsen?! Are you there?"

"Yes!"

Yinsen moved his head so that it was into view. He was facing the door.

"What's going on in there?!" shouted the soldier. "Wong-Chu says he can't see you on the camera!"

Yinsen shook his head.

"We're working! Come back later!"

"Show yourself! Both of you, or we're coming in there!"

Yinsen moved his head back. The soldier could hear what sounded like a whisper.

"Where's Stark?! Yinsen!"

The other soldier shook his head and scowled.

"They're up to something," he said. "Open the door."

"Yeah . . . . Yinsen! We're coming in, right now!"

He reached for the door handle. Yinsen looked back at him as he gasped.

"Don't . . . .!"

The soldier twisted the door handle. As he did, the explosive device that Tasha had planted there earlier detonated, incinerating both of the soldiers and blowing the door wide open. As their last seconds of feeling left their bodies, all that was left was the excruciating sense of burning. Yinsen winced as he looked at the remains of the door.

"How did it go?" asked Tasha.

"It worked exactly as intended," replied Yinsen.

Yinsen ran back up to Tasha's armour and finished buckling the straps on the legs. Taking a moment to look at their creation, the entire steel-forged suit looked like a monolith of death. Carrying a conduit for the arc reactor in her chest plate, the entire suit was dirty, but somehow, had a certain element of elegance to it.

"Where did you even get this idea?" asked Yinsen.

Tasha smirked.

"Little project I used to work on, that I . . . . don't, anymore. My company got in trouble because of it. Long story."

Yinsen wiped the sweat off his temple as he looked at the destroyed door again.

"They're going to be here any second," stated Yinsen.

"Then let's go."

Tasha exhaled and dropped the metal mask over her face. Yinsen stood back as the fully charged suit powered up. Making a loud humming noise, Tasha stepped off the pedestal and straightened out the armour's back. Suspending her body in the air, the two meter tall armour fully encased it. Tasha took a step forward as Yinsen looked at her in awe.

Shouts were then heard from down the corridor. Tasha turned around to face the door.

"Stay behind me," ordered Tasha.

Her voice was deepened into a booming echo by the armour. Yinsen crouched behind her as she clenched her fists. As she watched the shadows of the approaching soldiers stretch around the corner of the rock hallway, she narrowed her eyes and hardened her facial muscles. She then raised her left arm and pointed it towards the door.

A group of six soldiers ran towards the doorway. Each one was carrying an assault rifle. As they arrived at the door, some of them looked down at the ground in dismay at the remains of their comrades, while the rest looked forward in shock at seeing the armour.

"Hi there," said Tasha., smirking.

A tube ejected from the side of Tasha's left forearm. Loaded inside it was a miniature rocket, which immediately lit up and fired out of the tube. The soldiers gasped as the rocket was launched towards them. It hit one of the soldiers right in his ribcage, causing him to explode into gibs of bloodied flesh. The rest of the soldiers were torn apart and charred into crisped, smoking corpses. Lowering her arm as the tube receded into it, Tasha began to walk forward as she heard more screams coming down the hallway.

Yinsen, still crouched, shadowed her footsteps. More soldiers approached from the front as she marched out of the room. A group of three stopped in place as they stared at her in amazement. They then raised their assault rifles and opened fire, rocking the armour with bullets. Tasha winced as she took a step backwards from the sheer number of bullets ricocheting off the armour. Holding up her arms to deflect some of the bullets, Tasha continued walking forwards.

As she reached the group of soldiers, one of them turned and ran off. She threw her arm forward and punched at one, crushing him against the wall. As his body collapsed, the other tried to flee. Before he could escape, she grabbed his head with one hand and lifted him off the ground. He screamed in fear as she punched his chest with her other hand, sending him flying down the hallway. The impact of her punch liquified his bones as his mangled body crumpled on the ground.

Continuing forward, the hall gave way to a large loading room with plenty of boxes of equipment, supplies and weapons. Tasha glared around as she noticed several containers that had her company logo on them. Several soldiers in the room took aim at Tasha. More bullets hit the armour, but they just bounced off with little effect. Yinsen looked to the right as his eyes widened.

"Look out!"

Tasha turned to see a soldier running with an RPG. Raising her right arm, she squeezed the internal pressure trigger in the armour's glove. The heat tank attached to her back activated, and the flamethrower on her arm let out a steady stream of flames. The stream almost instantly reached the RPG soldier, and his clothes caught on fire. In his panicked state, he slipped and fell to the floor, accidentally firing his RPG into the ceiling. The explosion rocked the cave, and caused several chunks of rock to break loose from the cavern walls.

Tasha looked to the left and squeezed the other internal pressure trigger. With both flamethrowers active, she created a large wall of fire which she rotated forwards, trapping and burning several soldiers, which forced the rest to retreat. Stopping the fire, she looked over at a set of Stark Enterprises containers. She scowled as she lifted her fist in the air and smashed it down, obliterating the crates. She then punched with her other hand, scattering the pieces everywhere.

"I'm not going to let these terrorists use my tech," said Tasha.

"Tasha!" yelled Yinsen. "Look!"

Yinsen pointed to the left, and Tasha turned to see a cage full of village prisoners. There were around twenty people inside the large iron bar cage, including men, women and children. Their clothes were torn and their bodies looked dirty and malnourished. They were all staring at her, with faces ranging from fear to awe. Tasha walked over to the cage.

"Stand back," she ordered. "I'm going to get you out of there."

Grabbing onto the bars with the armour's hands, Tasha pulled outwards, ripping the iron bars apart and creating a large hole in the cage. The prisoners didn't move.

"Come on."

The prisoners still didn't move. One of the children, a young girl, stared directly at Tasha's helmet. Tasha sighed and lifted the helmet, revealing her face.

"It's okay now," she said. "I'm getting you all out of here."

After a few seconds, the young girl stepped forward, and exited the cage. The rest of the prisoners followed suit as Tasha put her helmet back on.

"Too late, Stark!"

Tasha looked forward to see Wong-Chu standing at the entrance to the cave, holding a grenade launcher. Raising it up, he fired a grenade round directly at her.

"Get down!" she shouted.

Tasha quickly turned her back to Wong-Chu, and threw up her arms. Shielding Yinsen and the prisoners, Tasha took the grenade directly to the back of the armour, shrieking in pain. Small pieces of the armour on the back fell off as the heat smoldered the metal. Yinsen's jaw dropped as Tasha exhaled and turned around to face Wong-Chu.

As he raised his grenade launcher again, Tasha held her right arm forward, and loaded the remaining missile. Firing the rocket at the same time Wong-Chu launched another grenade round, Tasha took the grenade to the right side of her waist. While the prisoners had moved back out of the blast radius, Yinsen was knocked back by the force of the explosion. Tasha's rocket hit the wall behind Wong-Chu, knocking him to the ground as part of his face was burned.

"Yinsen!"

Tasha turned around to see Yinsen crumpled up against a pile of bags. He was breathing slowly as blood filled up his shirt.

"Oh no . . . . no no no . . . ."

Tasha opened her face plate and crouched down next to him.

"Yinsen . . . . hold tight, I'm going to carry you out . . . ."

Yinsen put up his hand momentarily.

"Don't . . . . it's okay . . . . get these people to safety . . . ."

Tasha shook her head as a couple of tears dripped down her face.

"You said we're getting out of here together," she protested.

"It's okay, Tasha," replied Yinsen. "I've lived my life . . . . these people need your help . . . ."

Tasha closed her eyes for a moment.

"I wanted to tell you . . . . what I meant . . . . when I said you were . . . . selling yourself short."

Tasha opened her eyes and looked directly into Yinsen's.

"You said that you only helped me because I saved you . . . . I don't believe that," said Yinsen, coughing. "You helped me . . . . you helped them . . . . because you have the heart . . . . of a hero."

Yinsen weakly put up his arm and tapped the arc reactor twice with his finger. Tasha looked down at it and then back at him.

"Don't forget that . . . ."

Yinsen's eyes started to flutter.

"Don't . . . . forget . . . ."

Yinsen exhaled and then rested his head back. His eyes stopped moving. Tasha frowned as more tears streamed down her face.

"I won't."

Tasha stood up and closed her face mask. She looked over at the prisoners, who were staring at her. She then turned around to see Wong-Chu pulling himself off the ground. Tasha glared at him.

"You."

Wong-Chu looked back at Tasha in terror before turning around and running outside, his right arm pressed against his waist. Tasha ran after him as fast as she could. As Wong-Chu ran out into the sun, he began shouting.

"Ready the tank!" he yelled. "Aim for the armour and blow it apart!"

Tasha reached the exit of the cavern, and looked down to see Wong-Chu running towards a large, steel, battle tank. One the side of it was emblazoned a symbol of a yellow hexagon. The tank had a top section with twin cannons. As Tasha walked forward, the cannons started moving to aim towards her. Her eyes widening, she ran forward as the armour clanked in response. Aiming both of her arms forward, she ignited both of her flamethrowers, setting the front of the tank ablaze. The twin cannons fired, but with their view shrouded in flames, it missed Tasha and hit the rock face. She used this time to close the distance between her and the tank, before uppercutting the front end, knocking the entire vehicle over.

As the tank collapsed on its side, Tasha reached at the bottom and pulled outwards, tearing a massive hole in the metal. The driver inside screamed as she punched him, smashing his skull against the inside wall of the tank. She then took a moment to look around

"This looks way too advanced for this group," she said. "Who is supplying these guys?"

Tasha looked over the dashboard of the tank. In the corner of it, she saw a small logo imprint.

AIM.

Furrowing her brow, she stood up straight and heard a moaning sound. Walking around the tank, she saw that Wong-Chu was on the ground, his legs crushed under the weight of the tank. Completely immobilized, he looked up at Tasha with a face of sheer terror.

"Stark!"

Tasha glared at him.

"Please . . . . don't . . . ."

"Hey . . . . master . . . ." Tasha started, "this is for Yinsen."

Tasha lifted her leg over Wong-Chu's face. He screamed as she lowered it, twisting his head sideways. She heard a loud snapping sound as Wong-Chu's screams stopped. Taking a moment to breathe heavily, she looked up to see the prisoners exiting the cave. They began to smile and embrace each other. Smiling weakly, Tasha then activated the rocket boots. Her feet igniting, she blasted upwards into the sky.

* * *

Killian rolled his eyes as he picked up the phone.

"What is it?" said Killian, sighing.

"We've just received confirmation," said the voice. "Stark's alive."

Killian exhaled slowly.

"Well . . . . that's legitimately disappointing. I should have known those cavemen would be incompetent."

"What do we do now, sir?"

Killian took a moment before responding.

"Initiate Phase Two."


	6. Waiting

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 6: Waiting

"Ah!"

Tasha felt the fuel cells inside the suit run out as her upward climb stopped. She had only planned for a ten second flight, but she still began to panic as she looked down at the grass rushing to meet her. Wincing, she braced herself as the suit crashed into one of the hills in the Chinese plains. Groaning and coughing, she slowly opened her eyes as her bones screamed in pain.

Her chest to the ground, Tasha placed both of her palms on the grass and pushed upwards. Adjusting herself into a sitting position, she shook her head and breathed deeply for a few seconds. Looking down, she noticed that several pieces of the armour had already fallen off her body and were strewn around her, including the entire arm piece for her left arm. Exhaling again, she tore her face mask off and tossed it onto the grass. Sputtering, she used her bare left hand to wipe her mouth.

"Bleh."

She then pointed her armoured right arm into the sky and fired a flare. Placing her back against the ground, Tasha watched as the flare soared into the sky. It left behind a faint trail of smoke as it rocketed upwards. As she watched the glow of orange light, she thought back to her demonstration of the Vindicator missiles. As the time went by, she allowed herself, for the first time in years, to think about her past.

"Don't touch that, Tasha."

Tasha scowled as Howard lightly tapped her hand with his. She withdrew her hand from the machine he was working on.

"But Papa . . . ."

"I already told you," started Howard, "I'm working right now. Weren't you building something in your room?"

Tasha frowned.

"I already finished my engine," replied Tasha. "That stuff is boring. I want to see what you are up to."

Howard sighed and shook his head. He placed his wrench on his work bench and walked over to Tasha. Standing in front of her, he placed his hands on his hips.

"What?" asked Tasha.

"My lab is no place for six year olds, regardless of how talented they are at engineering," said Howard.

He crouched down and looked directly into her eyes.

"Papa, you know I'm smart enough for this . . . ."

"I know," said Howard. "That still doesn't change that there are rules in this house, and one of them is that you cannot be in the lab. Go build something even better than your engine and tell me about it when it's done."

"I don't want to build something, I want to . . . ."

"Why don't you go ask Warren to fire up the jet?" interrupted Howard. "Ask him to take you somewhere. I hear that Singapore is looking lovely right now."

Tasha sighed and frowned as she looked into Howard's eyes. She then started to reach out with her arms.

"Can I get a . . . ."

Howard's eyes widened as he heard his phone ringing. He immediately stood up.

"One moment, pumpkin."

Howard ran over to his desk and grabbed the phone off the table. Placing it to his ear, he looked away from Tasha.

"This is Stark."

Tasha lowered her hands and shook her head as she exhaled.

"No, tell him that I need those designs ready for the presentation on Wednesday . . . ."

"Papa."

Tasha looked up at Howard as he continued to talk.

"This is business, Jim, there are deadlines to meet . . . ."

"Papa!"

Howard continued to talk and turned away from Tasha.

"I'll draw up some new schematics for him . . . ."

Tasha frowned and shrugged, before turning away and walking out of the room. She stopped at the door of the lab, placing one hand on the door. Taking a moment, she looked back at Howard. He was still talking on the phone, and was pacing around the room as he did so. She stared at him for a few seconds before closing her eyes and walking out the door and down the hallway towards her room.

Tasha blinked as that memory faded into another.

"Come on, Oby, we're going to be late!"

Tasha laughed as he guzzled the last of the beer in her can before she tossed it to the ground. She then looked behind her to see Stane, his hands in his pockets. She smirked as she looked at him. His dishevelled black hair, thick glasses, smooth, youthful face and collared shirt all contributed to his image. She then looked up to the guy standing next to her and smiled. Zeke had his arm around Tasha's shoulders. He was at least forty centimetres taller than her, and was wearing arm bands and casual clothes.

"Oby," said Zeke, "stop being a geek and get over here. I don't even know why I brought you, to be honest."

Stane shook his head as he caught up to them.

"I've told you both before," said Stane, "I hate that name."

"And I hate having such a stuck-up nerd for a little brother," replied Zeke.

Zeke punched Stane in the shoulder with his free hand. Tasha laughed. Stane fumed and rubbed his shoulder.

"Lighten up, Obadiah," said Tasha.

"I'm not even sure why I'm here," stated Stane. "I'd rather be . . . ."

"At home, doing nothing fun," interrupted Tasha. "Because you're a nerd."

Tasha laughed as she shrugged Zeke's arm off her shoulder. She walked up to Stane, who was staring at the ground, his hands still in his pockets.

"Don't bother, Tash," said Zeke. "He ain't worth the effort."

Tasha looked back at Zeke.

"Go on ahead. Get us good seats. We'll catch up."

Zeke shrugged.

"Alright."

Zeke turned around and continued to walk down the field. Tasha look back at Stane and placed both of her hands on his shoulders. Stane was still looking down.

"Hey . . . . are you okay?"

Stane shook his head.

"His punch really hurt," said Stane.

Tasha sighed. Moving to his side, she placed both of her hands on his bruised shoulder and began to rub it. Stane winced a few times before relaxing.

"Is that better?"

"Yeah," said Stane. "Thanks."

Tasha grabbed both sides of Stane's face and pointed it at hers.

"Hey . . . . look at me."

Stane frowned.

"Don't worry about Zeke," said Tasha. "He's fun, but you definitely got all the intelligence in the family. It will all work out, buddy . . . . don't you worry. I'll take care of you. I always have."

"I just don't see why you're with him instead . . . ."

"Tasha!" shouted Zeke from afar.

Tasha turned around to look at him, letting go of Stane's face.

"Hurry up, will ya?"

"Alright!" yelled Tasha. "We're coming!"

Tasha turned back to Stane.

"What were you saying, love?"

Stane sighed.

"Don't worry about it."

Tasha smiled and reached out her hand. Stane looked at it.

"Come on, let's get going."

Stane looked at her and back at her hand. He slowly reached his out and grabbed hers. She grinned and then looked forward as she began walking down the field. Stane kept pace with her, smiling behind her back as she lead the way. Tasha lightly squeezed on Stane's hand. As Stane's breathing accelerated, she let go of his hand. Stunned, he looked down for a moment and then forward to see that they had caught up to Zeke, who now had his arm around Tasha's shoulders again.

"Tasha?"

Tasha blinked as she looked forward at the coffin.

"Tasha?"

Tasha looked down at her hands. They were in long, laced black gloves. She then looked to the right to see Stane standing there, in a suit.

"Obadiah."

"Are you going to be okay?"

Tasha looked around to see the crowd dispersing. She looked back at the coffin. She felt the large, black hat on her head dip into her view. After taking a few moments to look at the photo on top of the coffin, she turned back to Stane. Choking back tears, she weakly smiled.

"I will be . . . . in time."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I mean . . . . we barely spoke most of the time . . . ."

"I know he was the only family you had . . . . I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you."

Tasha smiled at Stane. She then reached out and hugged him. Taken aback for a second, Stane then placed his hands on her back.

"Thank you, Obadiah," said Tasha. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Stane weakly smiled as he closed his eyes. He felt Tasha's chest against his as she slowly breathed. After a few seconds, she let go and smiled at him. She then kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks."

Tasha then turned around and began walking down the hill towards line of limousines on the road. Stane put his hands in his pockets and looked back down at the ground.

Tasha blinked one last time as she heard the rotors of a helicopter.

"Huh?"

Tasha blinked a few more times as she saw a helicopter in the air, lowering itself towards her. Her eyes widened as her mouth parted in a large smile. Using the last of her strength to push herself off the ground, she began to strip pieces of the armour off as the helicopter landed next to her. Looking at it, she saw Rhodes jump off the plane, followed by a couple of soldiers. Rhodes ran up to her and crouched next to her.

"Tasha!"

"Rhodey!"

Rhodes smiled and laughed as he pulled her in for a hug. After letting go, he placed his arms around her shoulders and legs, pulling her off the ground.

"Let's get you home."

Tasha sighed as she placed her head against Rhodes' chest. He carried her over to the helicopter and placed her inside. Sitting her down, she looked over to her left to see Stane sitting there. Rhodes and the other soldiers clambered back into the helicopter. Rhodes waved his arm, and the pilot began lifting the helicopter into the air.

"Oby!"

"Tasha!"

Tasha reached out and hugged Stane.

"I'm so glad you're here," said Tasha.

"I'm so glad you're alive," replied Stane.

After letting go, Tasha sat back in her seat, closing her eyes. Stane smiled and looked over at her before looking out the side of the helicopter. He narrowed his view as he saw the pieces of armour strewn on the grass of the hill.


	7. New Directions

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 7: New Directions

Tasha's muscles ached as she sat down on the chair. It had fine, purple cushions, which matched the contours of her body as she placed herself on it. While the cushions attempted to relax and soothe her bruised body, she found herself unable to fully accept the comforts of the chair. She winced as she adjusted her position, trying to find a comfortable way to sit. After a few seconds of struggle, she found a slightly more amicable position and kept it.

Looking forward, she saw the large press group in front of her. Around two hundred individuals were in the crowd, all staring intently at the stage. Behind Tasha was a podium, but no one was standing at it. She looked to her left to see Happy standing there. He had his hands behind his back, but he took a moment to look at Tasha and smile. She nodded and looked back forward as she saw Stane in the back of the room, speaking to Pepper and Rhodes. After a few seconds, he broke off from the group and walked around the crowd towards her. Arriving on the stage, Stane stood up to the podium and turned on the microphone.

"Members of the press," started Stane, "I would like to thank all of you for coming this morning. My name is Obadiah Stane, and I am here to officially announce the wonderful news that Tasha Stark has indeed been recovered from captivity."

The press group applauded for a few seconds. Tasha looked at the front row to see Christian there, with an unimpressed look on his face. As the clapping died, down, Stane nodded.

"As you can probably imagine, Ms. Stark has not recovered enough to stand at the podium, but she does want to address the public and make a statement."

Stane stood down from the podium and pulled up a chair to sit down next to Tasha. He hunched over and put his elbows on his knees, holding his hands together. He looked at her and smiled.

"Whenever you're ready."

Tasha nodded at Stane, returning his smile. She then looked over at Happy and beckoned him with a head gesture. Happy nodded and walked over to her. He pulled his hands to his front, revealing that he was holding a McDonald's cup. Holding the straw to her mouth, Happy held the cup steady as she grabbed the straw with her lips and sipped. After she was done, Happy took the cup back and returned to his post.

Allowing the Coke to gestate in her mouth for a few seconds, she felt the cold, nourishing liquid providing refreshment to her aching throat. Gulping it down, she closed her eyes for a few seconds. As she reopened them, she felt the gaze of everyone in the room on her at once.

"I, uh . . . ." Tasha started, "Uh . . . ."

Pepper's cheeks quivered. Rhodes breathed in.

"Um . . . . I'm not . . . ."

Tasha sighed.

"You know . . . . if you asked me, three weeks ago, if I had . . . . everything figured out, I'd have said yes."

Stane looked at Tasha and narrowed his eyes.

"I . . . ." Tasha continued, "I thought that . . . . my whole life was done. Set. I was in a specific spot, you know . . . . and I was comfortable there . . . . I had it all set. All set."

The breathing in the room slowed.

"Then, something like this . . . . this . . . . it changes things, you know? When I was . . . . my father, he, uh . . . . he always focused on, what people thought of him . . . . his company . . . . and, when you experience things, and then they're over . . . . it makes you think."

Tasha felt moisture fill up her eyes.

"Makes you think about . . . . what you've done, what you're going to do . . . . where you're going. What kind of mark you're leaving on the world. I saw . . . . I saw my work, my technology . . . . be used as weapons in the hands of terrorists. I saw what I'd created . . . . be twisted and turned into a force for evil . . . . evil that I manufactured."

Tasha wiped her mouth.

"And I . . . . I've decided that I want to leave the world with something . . . . uh, something more. More than just rockets and bullets."

One of the reporters put up his hand. Tasha nodded at him.

"Yeah."

"Ms. Stark," started the reporter, "you were gone for three weeks. What happened in China?"

"I was pushed to the brink," responded Tasha. "I . . . . I was cornered, and I seriously had to consider . . . . if my life was over. I barely escaped alive, and I realized that I can no longer be part of a system of war, and death, that takes no responsibility for its actions."

Christian raised an eyebrow.

"So, with that said . . . . I am effectively shutting down the weapons division of Stark Enterprises."

The crowd erupted into conversation and shouting as Stane jerked his head to look at Tasha, his eyes widened. Pepper gasped as Rhodes frowned.

* * *

"Absolutely not."

Tasha walked down the hallway, cutting through the air with each step. Happy was following her, as Stane and Pepper followed him.

"I'm not talking about this, Obadiah," said Tasha. "I've made my decision."

"Hey!"

Stane reached out and grabbed Tasha's arm, turning her around. Happy glared at him, but didn't move. Pepper stood next to Stane.

"You're not thinking straight," said Stane.

"Yes, I am."

"The hell you are!"

Stane exhaled and took a step back as he closed his eyes for a moment. He then looked directly at Tasha.

"Tasha, look, I know you went through a lot over there . . . ."

"Oby, I saw people . . . . good people . . . . murdered by the very weapons I had designed," explained Tasha. "We're not helping people by building these things. I'm not going to be a part of that cycle of violence anymore."

"Well what happens to the thousands of people who have their lives riding on the success of this company? Weapons manufacturing is what we do."

"Not anymore."

Tasha turned around, tears in her eyes as she closed them. Happy folded his arms and sighed. Stane stood back, frowning. Pepper walked forward and put her hand on Tasha's shoulders.

"Tasha . . . ."

Tasha didn't respond.

"I know you don't want to hurt people . . . . but Obadiah has a fair point," said Pepper. "If we don't make weapons, what will we do? Obadiah is your partner, and you're just cutting him out of the decision completely."

Tasha clenched her fists, her eyes still closed.

"Happy . . . . Pepper . . . . give us a minute."

Pepper sighed as she beckoned Happy. The two of them opened a nearby door and entered. As Happy was closing the door, he looked at Tasha.

"Come get us when you're ready," said Happy.

Tasha waited a few seconds, her eyes still closed. She then turned around and opened them, looking at Stane. Her eyes were murky with tears.

"Tasha . . . ."

"Obadiah . . . . I can't do this anymore. I can't build things that hurt people. I need to do something better than this."

"Tasha . . . . without weapons, Stark Enterprises is going to fall apart," responded Stane. "This whole company that we built together . . . . sure, you inherited it from your dad, but . . . . I mean, look at all we've accomplished! We built the greatest technology company in history . . . . and you're going to throw it all away!"

Tasha felt the tears fall down her face.

"You said that we were going to be okay . . . . you said we were going to take care of each other," continued Stane. "But Tasha . . . . Stark Enterprises is all I have."

Stane looked down at the floor, his hands in his pockets. Tasha walked up to him and pulled him in for a hug.

"You have me."

Stane relented and closed his eyes as he wrapped his arms around Tasha's shoulders. After embracing for a minute, Tasha let go and turned to knock on the door where Happy and Pepper were. As she spoke to them, Stane said something under his breath that only he could hear.

"Do I?"

* * *

The glow of the large arc reactor filled the room with light, meaning that the internal ceiling lights didn't have to be turned on. Tasha looked at the prototype, which was the size of a small room. Several scientists in laboratory gear were walking around it, interacting with various computer terminals. Stane was behind her, along with Happy and Pepper. One of the scientists broke off from the group and walked up to her.

"Ms. Stark," said the scientist. "Welcome to Project Pegasus."

The man held out his hand. Tasha shook it.

"My name is Doctor Franklin Hall," said Hall. "I'm the head of this facility."

"I noticed," said Tasha. "Canadian, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I can tell. You're too polite for San Francisco."

Hall and Tasha chuckled. Some of the other scientists glared at them.

"I want you to tell me about your recent developments," said Tasha. "I understand you've been able to stabilize the energy syphoning procedure."

"Indeed we have," replied Hall.

Hall pointed up at the arc reactor.

"Previous models of the arc reactor were able to create their own energy, but their syphoning was inactive due to being unable to properly channel and store the collected energy. We needed some sort of catalyst . . . . a material agent within the reactor that could store the syphoned energy for use."

"And you found one?"

"Yes. Come with me."

Hall walked into a nearby office, followed by Tasha, Happy, Pepper and Stane. The office was suitably messy, with papers strewn about, multiple empty soda cans on the table, and various fast food bags in the waste bin. Hall activated the computer and beckoned the others to look at the screen.

"This looks . . . . cozy," said Pepper.

"While we were searching for materials to aid in our geothermal extraction project, we managed to come across this."

Tasha and the others looked at the screen to see an image of a small piece of glowing, violet ore. Tasha and Stane's eyes widened.

"That's vibranium!" they said in unison.

Tasha and Stane looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Hall, who was grinning. Happy and Pepper looked at each other and shrugged.

"Indeed it is," said Hall. "We managed to get a hold of a small amount of raw vibranium. It's never been processed. Using the vibranium, we were able to craft a syphon engine within the arc reactor. Vibranium's unique ability to absorb any kind of impact, energy or radiation meant that it was the perfect way to properly channel and store the syphoned energy."

"Incredible," said Tasha. "Did you use all of it?"

"No," replied Hall. "We still have some raw vibranium left."

Tasha smirked and looked back at Happy for a second before facing forward.

"I want to show you something, Doctor Hall."

Tasha undid the top two buttons of her shirt, and opened it to reveal the arc reactor. Hall stood back as his jaw dropped.

"That's . . . . a miniaturized arc reactor! How did you . . . ."

"It's amazing what you can come up with in the direst of situations," said Tasha. "It's keeping me alive. I want your vibranium to upgrade it for a special project of mine."

"Of course, of course," said Hall. "Your money made all of this possible."

Stane narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Tasha and then back at Hall. Tasha buttoned her shirt back up.

"Also . . . ." started Tasha, "I'm moving your arc reactor to Stark Tower."

"What?"  
"I'm airlifting it back to LA. I want to personally head the next phase of its development."

"But what about us?" asked Hall.

"You're still in the loop, Doctor," said Tasha. "You're just going to be temporarily relocated to my tower. After this phase, I'll move the arc reactor back to Project Pegasus. Trust me, I won't be interrupting you for more than a month."

Hall was silent for a moment before shrugging.

"Alright, I can work with that."

"Excellent," said Tasha. "The choppers will be here soon, along with transportation for you and your team. I'll let Ms. Potts here talk to you about the logistics."

Tasha turned and smiled at Stane. He nodded, but did not return the smile. As Tasha walked out of the room with Happy, Stane checked his phone as Pepper began talking to Hall.

* * *

Killian walked into the laboratory, followed by Ellen Brandt. She was a younger woman, with short, brown hair and a demure face. As the laboratory doors automatically opened to allow them in, they saw a man in a red hazmat suit typing at a terminal, with his back to them. The hazmat suit had a large, crimson canister on the back, with two valves that glowed vibrant green.

"Doctor," said Killian.

The man stood up from his terminal and turned around. The hazmat suit had a domed, plastic facial section, with a faint hexagonal pattern cut into it. Behind the plastic was a face which glowed with the same green energy as the valves on his back. His thin eyes had no pupils, and his bones glowed through his skin. An internal gas mask was placed on his mouth. His breathing was heavy and laboured.

"Killian," said the man, his voice muffled by the gas mask.

"It's time, doctor," said Killian. "We've received word from our green asset that the arc reactor is being moved to Stark Tower. We can't afford to lose any more time. I want you to lead the strike team and obtain the prototype."

The man narrowed his eyes and did not respond for a few seconds.

"Will Ms. Brandt be accompanying me?"

"Yes," said Brandt. "I will be your lieutenant for this operation."

The man sneered.

"Good," he said. "I'll be ready."

"We're counting on you, Chen Lu," said Killian. "Get it done."

Killian turned and walked out of the room, followed by Brandt. Chen turned back to his terminal and continued typing.


	8. Mark Two

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 8: Mark Two

Rolling her chair over to the central desk in her lab, Tasha opened up the hard-light hologram display.

"Welcome back to the office, ma'am," said Janice.

"Thanks Jan," replied Tasha. "Miss me?"  
"I felt utterly useless during your vacation, so I would say so."

Tasha looked up with a scowl.

"Vacation?!" she shouted. "I was a prisoner of war!"

"It's always nice to get time to yourself."

Tasha sighed. Reaching out with her hands, she expanded the hologram to show all of the Stark Enterprises projects. She saw the files for the Project Pegasus arc reactor, the Vindicator missiles, the Mark One Sentinels, and several other files. At the far left was a blue plus sign. Tapping at it, the canvas cleared as a new project file was opened.

"Starting a new project, ma'am?"

"Yessir."

"I am not a sir, ma'am."

Tasha raised an eyebrow.

"No, I wasn't calling you a sir, I just . . . . I said yes, and sir, as sort of one word . . . . forget about it."

"I forget nothing, ma'am," replied Janice. "That is a human fault. My memory is perfect."

"If only you could forget your snarky attitude."

"As I recall, you programmed me, ma'am."

"Shut it, Janice."

"Shut what, ma'am?" asked Janice. "I have no physical form to speak of."

"I hate you."

"I know."

Tasha began moving her hands through the hologram, manipulating the construct so that it began to shape itself into a suit.

"Playing god, are we, ma'am?"

"No," replied Tasha. "Building the future."

After a few minutes of manipulation, Tasha eventually saw the construct take the form of the suit she used to escape captivity.

"I want this to go on file as Mark One," said Tasha.

"Very well, ma'am. Might I ask what it is the Mark One of?"

"My suit. Mark One . . . . designation . . . . Escapee."

"Data saved."

"Alright, new page, same file, this one named Mark Two."

"Seems like a logical progression."

"Designation . . . ."

Tasha placed her hand on her chin as she exhaled. After a second, she smirked.

"Designation . . . . Marilyn."

Spinning the hologram model of the suit around, Tasha began manipulating the vectors of the suit to more properly fit the contours of her own body. As the suit took shape, she smiled as brightly as the glow of her arc reactor.

* * *

Pressing her tool against the edge of the boot, Tasha connected one of the wires running along the ankle to a socket latched onto a piece of sheet metal. As she was doing this, Pepper opened the door and entered the lab. She was holding a plate of nachos, with melted cheese liberally spread across them. The aroma of the plate of food caused Tasha to turn her head.

"Oh, sweet baby Cheesus," said Tasha.

Pepper placed the nachos on the table behind Tasha. Turning her chair around, she rolled up to the plate of nachos, her eyes wide with anticipation. After staring at the plate for a few seconds, she looked up at Pepper.

"I love you."

"I know," replied Pepper. "Considering that I'm willing to prepare this at one in the morning, you had better."

Tasha stuffed her left hand into the plate, grasping several nachos at once. As she stuffed them into her mouth, she stared at Pepper. After a few seconds, the two women laughed together, as Tasha struggled to chew her food. She then waved her hand, beckoning Pepper to sit down. She took the nearby stool and sat on it. Tasha swallowed her food and smiled at her.

"No, really," started Tasha, "thank you. Not just for this . . . . well, obviously mostly for this, because, you know . . . . nachos."

Pepper chuckled.

"But for everything else too . . . . I just wanted to say . . . . you know . . . ."

Pepper smiled.

"You're welcome."

Tasha returned Pepper's smile. For a few moments, the two women just looked into each other's eyes. Tasha then reached forward and grabbed Pepper's shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. Tasha placed her face against Pepper's shoulder, who put her hand on Tasha's head and patted it gently as she closed her eyes.

After their embrace was over, Tasha took a smaller handful of nachos and continued to eat. Pepper looked over at the mechanical boot on the table.

"Are you building rocket boots?"

"That's one way of putting it," responded Tasha.

As Tasha licked her fingertips, she then jumped up slightly.

"Oh, I wanted to show you something," said Tasha.

Pepper looked over at Tasha and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"This."

Tasha grabbed an arc reactor off the table, which was similar to the one in her chest. In the centre of it was a triangular piece of glowing metal.

"What is that?" asked Pepper. "Another arc reactor?"

"Yes . . . . but with a significant upgrade," explained Tasha. "I removed the vibranium core that Project Pegasus made for the large scale model and placed it in a miniaturized one to see what would happen, added the extra vibranium they had . . . . after the tech is done charging, this new arc reactor will be better than ever, and should be able to properly power my latest creation."

"The rocket boots?"

Tasha looked at Pepper and smirked.

"It's not just boots, love . . . ."

* * *

Stuffing her arm into the metal gauntlet, Tasha lifted it and aimed her palm as the repulsor glowed. Aiming it forward, Tasha narrowed her field of vision as she looked at the three targets she had prepared on the wall. Twisting her screwdriver into one of the bolts on the hand section, she then looked at the metal hand as she put the screwdriver down. Flexing her fingers and flipping her hand back and forth, the shiny, silver metallic glove felt like a natural extension of her body. The centre of the palm, which held the repulsor, glowed with vibrant white light.

Slowing her breathing, she pointed her hand forward at the first target. She focused intently on it for a few seconds before activating the repulsor. Her entire arm flew back, and she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. The blast of the repulsor blew off a large chunk of the concrete wall to the left of the target. Winded for a second, Tasha recovered her breath as she looked forward at the target with the frown.

"Perhaps we'll require some accuracy training, ma'am?"

* * *

"Activate assembly protocol."

"Might I remind you that you've been working straight for nearly eighteen hours?"

"My memory isn't that bad," said Tasha. "Also . . . . why are you arguing with me? Just do it."

"As you wish, ma'am."

Standing still with her arms outstretched, Tasha felt the mechanical limbs around her begin to assemble the pieces of the armour. The first item were the boots, which strapped around her feet. The open plates latched around her ankles, perfectly forming the metallic boots. The legs and arms were then lined with a series of metal panels which wrapped around her appendages, with the gloves forming around her palms.

The pelvis plate punched against her body, and Tasha cringed as it did so. Two mechanical arms then lowered the breastplate, which had a circular hole in it to accommodate the arc reactor. Fitting itself around her breasts, Tasha squirmed slightly to ensure that they felt comfortable in their new metal environment. Lowering from the breastplate were several more panels which covered her stomach and back, as well as two shoulder plates with expandable panels with stabilizer jets.

The last piece was the helmet, which fit itself around her face. Latching around her chin, Tasha exhaled as the face mask lowered itself. Fully encased in the armour, she was in total darkness for a second before the heads-up display activated.

"Janice," said Tasha. "You there?"

"At your service, ma'am."

Tasha's eyes lit up as she watched all the information feeds begin activating.

"Heads-up display . . . . online," said Janice. "Life support systems . . . . online. Targeting systems . . . . online. Connection to Stark Enterprises database . . . . online. All systems functional and operating at serviceable capacity, ma'am. Of course, once the vibranium arc reactor core is online, I would recommend immediately swapping it in, for the suit will not be able to operate at peak capacity without it."

"Got it," replied Tasha.

"Would you like to try the firing test again?"

Tasha turned to the right and faced the three targets. She scoffed as she looked at the hole in the concrete, and then raised her arm as she stared at the first target. The heads-up display lined up the shot for her. Smirking, she fired the first shot, obliterating the target. Twisting her body around and crouching, she threw up her other hand and fired both repulsors at once, destroying the other two targets at the same time. Standing up straight, Tasha chuckled.

"Yeah, I got this."

"It would likely be more impressive without the targeting systems . . . ."

"Don't steal my moment, you saucy Brit."

Tasha then looked forward at the ramp leading out of the lab.

"Very well then, ma'am," said Janice. "Starting to tabulate raw data . . . ."

"I'm taking her out."

"Ma'am, that is very ill advised . . . ."

"Trust me Jan," said Tasha. "I'm a genius."

Tasha activated the boots, and began hovering in the air.

"Even geniuses can have bad ideas . . . ."

Aiming herself forward, Tasha began flying out of the ramp and then, aiming herself upward, into the night sky.

"Whoa!"

Flying out of Stark Tower, Tasha felt a large, open smile form on her face. Looking down at the buildings of Los Angeles, Tasha adjusted her hands, which turned her body towards the skyline. Blasting herself forward, Tasha looked around as she felt the movement of the suit carry her through the sky.

"This . . . . is . . . . amazing!"

"Is that your official report, ma'am?"

"Woohoo!"

Tasha aimed herself even further downward, as she flew between the skyscrapers. Lining herself several metres above the cars on the street, Tasha flew side to side as she headed towards the highway. As she looked at it, she noticed a bus that was swerving back and forth.

"Janice!" shouted Tasha. "What's going on over there?"

"It appears that the bus driver has just had a seizure," replied Janice. "Ma'am, there are over thirty people on that bus!"

Narrowing her eyes, Tasha boosted forward, rocketing towards the highway. As she flew towards it, she could see the civilians on the bus, who were screaming in fear. The driver collapsed and fell out of his chair as the bus careened into oncoming traffic. Several cars weaved to try and avoid the renegade bus.

"The bus is about to go over the edge of the highway, ma'am!"

Tasha tensed her facial muscles as she flew forward. As the bus crashed into the edge of the highway, it smashed the concrete railing and began falling off. Tasha boosted under the bus and put up her hands. The crushing weight of the bus was mostly absorbed by the armour, although Tasha still felt the strain of her muscles as she lifted it up into the air. Looking down, she could see dozens of civilians on street level staring up at her in awe. Lifting the bus off her shoulders, she smiled.

"Hey there," said Tasha.

Tasha then began slowly lowering to the ground. Landing her feet on the pavement, she then placed the bus next to her. As the wheels collided with the road, the surrounding civilians erupted into cheering and applause. Looking into the windows of the bus, she could see all of the passengers smiling, clapping and hugging each other. Tasha smiled inside her helmet as she looked around at the several dozen people who were cheering for her.

"And you thought a test flight was a bad idea," said Tasha.

"Touché."

As the passengers of the bus began filing out and helping the driver regain consciousness, a young woman ran up to Tasha. Grabbing her hand with both of hers, the woman smiled at Tasha with wide eyes.

"Oh ma'am," said the woman, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're quite welcome," replied Tasha.

"Who are you?"

Tasha took a moment before responding.

"Me?"

After thinking for a few more seconds, Tasha smirked.

"I'm Iron Maiden."

"Iron Maiden," repeated the woman.

"Now if you'll excuse me," said Tasha.

Tasha let go of the woman's hands and blasted off into the sky. Hovering in place a few metres off the ground as the crowd cheered, Tasha then flew upwards and off into the skyline.

"Hey, Janice."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"When we get back . . . . I want you to paint her."

"Do you have a particular colour scheme in mind?"

"Let's go with red and gold."

* * *

Killian rested his head back on his pillows as Brandt's naked body bounced on top of him. After a few minutes, she finished and collapsed onto the bed to his left. Smiling at her, he reached over and kissed on her on the forehead as his phone on the bedroom desk table rang. Picking it up, he activated it to see a video feed of Chen.

"Killian."

"Doctor."

"Preparations are complete. Tell Ms. Brandt to get ready. We leave in thirty minutes."

"She'll be there."

The video feed cut out. Brandt sighed as she began to put her clothes back on. Killian placed his hands behind his head, smirking as he watched her get dressed.


	9. Tales of Suspense

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 9: Tales of Suspense

The elevator dinged as the door opened. Tasha walked out of it, followed by Happy. As they walked down the hallway, several employees nodded and smiled at them. Pushing open the door to her meeting room, Tasha took a moment to absorb the rays of the morning sun shining through the windows before looking at the meeting table.

"Rhodey!"

Rhodes, who was sitting in one of the chairs, nodded.

"Tasha."

She then looked down the table, to see several board members.

"And the board."

"Ms. Stark."

"Yo."

Tasha laughed as she threw up her hands for a second. She then looked over at Rhodes, who had a straight face.

"What is so funny, Ms. Stark?" asked one of the board members.

"Nothing necessarily in particular," responded Tasha. "I just need to speak to Colonel Rhodes for a moment."

"Ms. Stark, we need to talk about the com . . . ."

"Rhodey!" interrupted Tasha. "Let's talk. Outside."

Rhodes sighed and stood up. He walked over to Tasha as Happy led him out the door. She looked back at the board for a moment.

"B-R-B."

Tasha closed the door. Rhodes folded his arms and looked at her. Happy stood next to them.

"Tasha, you can't keep pushing the board out . . . ."

"I need to talk to you about something. Seriously."

Rhodes looked into Tasha's eyes. After a second, he put his arms down.

"Talk."

"Have you ever heard of an organization known as Advanced Idea Mechanics?"

"AIM?" asked Happy.

Tasha and Rhodes looked at Happy.

"Yeah," said Happy. "We met with the CEO, Aldrich Killian, in Switzerland a few years back. Don't you remember?"

Tasha frowned.

"I guess I owe Janice ten bucks . . . ."

"Well I've heard of them," said Rhodes. "They're one of our suppliers for the applied science division of the Air Force. Work on energy efficiency, life support systems, things like that. Why do you ask?"

"Well, on the way to China, I got a call from Killian. He wanted to get AIM in on the arc reactor . . . . and when I was busting out, I found that the group who kidnapped me had a tank with their imprint on it. I don't believe in coincidence."

"You think AIM is gunning for you?" asked Rhodes.

Happy looked through the window into the meeting room, squinting as he did so.

"Not sure," replied Tasha. "But I'm not taking any chances. That's why I moved the arc reactor here . . . . they couldn't know where it is now . . . ."

"You sure?" asked Happy.

Tasha and Rhodes turned to look into the meeting room. They could see the board members standing up and looking out the window to see four sleek, white and blue shuttles flying towards the building. The front section of the shuttles were curved down, and both sides were flanked by forward facing metal plates which glowed with the same energy as the jets on the back section. Each shuttle had a yellow hexagon imprint on each side. Tasha's eyes widened as the lead shuttle's metal plates aimed twin green targeting lasers into the room. She immediately burst through the door.

"GET DOWN!"

The board members leaped down as the shuttle fired its machine gun turrets, guided by the targeting lasers, into the room. The glass of the windows was shattered instantly, and one board member was torn to pieces by the volley of bullets. Rhodes pulled out his pistol and opened fire on the shuttle, but his bullets merely bounced off the thick armour. The shuttle then targeted him, but Happy jumped and pushed him out of the way of the shuttle's fire. Tasha got down on the floor.

"Janice!" shouted Tasha, "Emergency armour protocol! I need Marilyn, now!"

"You still haven't swapped in the vibranium core," replied Janice. "The suit won't be operating at peak efficiency . . . ."

"Now!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Tasha beckoned over to the board members, who then started to crawl under the table towards her. She looked up to see another shuttle fly up above the rest.

"It appears that one of the shuttles is headed towards the roof," stated Janice.

Another shuttle flew slightly below the level they were on and began firing into the building. Screams and crashes were heard as the turrets unleashed their payload. Leading the group of board members into the hallway by crawling, Tasha then looked back into the room to see Rhodes and Happy on the floor, under the table. Tasha beckoned them, but Happy shook his head as the targeting lasers scanned the room.

"Come on!" whispered Tasha.

The shuttle then turned parallel to the building, and the side opened to reveal a docking ramp. The ramp landed on the edge of the meeting room, and a hissing noise was heard as the door behind it slid open. Tasha looked up with wide eyes as a man in a red hazmat suit descended from the steps. He had a green face, with bones that glowed through his skin. As he walked into the room, he was followed by several people in yellow, rubber suits, causing them to resemble beekeepers. Behind the mask of one of them, Tasha could see a younger woman with brown hair. The yellow suited individuals were all carrying assault rifles. The woman then placed her finger on her ear.

"This is Lieutenant Brandt," said Brandt. "All agents, be advised . . . . there is a green asset in the building. I repeat, a green asset."

Tasha raised an eyebrow.

"Under no circumstances is the asset to be harmed. All other personnel are expendable."

Chen looked around the room.

"I know you're here, Stark."

Tasha lowered her head. Happy looked over at her with fear in his eyes. Chen flexed his hands, which had pads on the palms that glowed with green energy.

"Step into the light, Stark . . . ."

Tasha narrowed her eyes. She looked over at Rhodes and nodded. Rhodes nodded back. Tasha then got up and stood in the doorway.

"Looking for me?"

Chen looked at her.

"Ah . . . . the famous Tasha Stark."

"And you are . . . .?"

"Doctor Chen Lu . . . . well, that's what they called me in my former life," said Chen. "I prefer my new name . . . . the Radioactive Man."

"You come up with that one all by yourself?" asked Tasha. "I'm impressed."

"I'm afraid your glib will not get you out of this one, Stark."

"It's worked pretty well so far . . . ."

Chen put up his hand as radioactive vapour steamed off it.

"I'm going to give you one chance, Stark. We control this building now. If you want to get out of this alive, you're going to tell us where the arc reactor is."

Tasha moved her pupils to look at Rhodes for a split second before looking back at Chen. Brandt smirked at Tasha. Underneath the table, Rhodes moved into a flanking position at the side of Chen and the AIM agents.

"Oh, that?" said Tasha.

She pointed upwards.

"It's upstairs. Second floor from the top."

Chen smirked as his hand glowed brighter.

"Thanks."

Tasha winked.

"You're welcome."

Rhodes stood up and fired at Chen's arm. Knocking it, Chen shrieked in pain as his radiation blast fired between Tasha and Rhodes. The AIM agents scrambled as the explosion knocked them down and blew Rhodes out the window.

"Rhodey!"

Tasha ran towards the window and jumped out after him. Happy shouted as she did so.

"Tasha!"

The AIM agents then looked at Happy and began firing their rifles. Happy ducked under the shots and ran out the door and down the hall after the board members as they fled.

* * *

As Tasha fell down the length of the tower, she kept her eyes on Rhodes.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Rhodes.

"Trust me!" yelled Tasha.

As she said it, the now red and gold suit, in its open form, flew next to her and began to latch itself around her body. Forming itself on her limbs, the central unit wrapped around her torso. As the chest piece locked in, Rhodes' eyes widened. After the helmet locked in over her face and the HUD lit up, Tasha boosted forward and grabbed Rhodes out of the air. Spinning around, Tasha activated her shoulder jets, which slowed their descent. Landing on the pavement outside the front entrance of the tower, Tasha put Rhodes on the ground as he stared at her with wide eyes.

"What is . . . ."

"This? My special project."

"Those guys . . . ."

"Are toast."

Tasha then blasted off the ground and began flying back up the side of the tower.

"Janice," started Tasha, "evacuate the building."

"There are one hundred and twenty floors of this building, ma'am. Evacuation procedure will take longer than an hour."

"Start it."

After reaching the broken window, she hovered in place as Chen and the AIM agents stared at her.

"You like your nickname, Radioactive Man? Then you'll love mine."

Tasha put up her arms and charged her repulsors.

"I'm Iron Maiden."

Tasha fired a set of twin repulsor blasts at Chen, striking him in the chest. They knocked him through the table, splitting it in half. As his head smashed into the floor, his body flipped, sending him crashing through the wall. The AIM agents were stunned for a moment before looking back at Tasha.

"Shuttles!" shouted Brandt. "Take her down!"

The two hovering shuttles aimed their green targeting lasers at Tasha. She immediately boosted up above their line of fire as their bullets riddled the wall of the tower.

"Janice, analyze targets!"

Tasha watched as the HUD began listing information as they scanned the shuttles.

"Enemy craft are shuttle-class, with durable titanium armour. Weapons include computer-targeted machine gun turrets, cluster missiles and carpet bombs. They sustain flight using four hover jets which are attached to each corner of the craft."

Tasha boosted to the left to avoid more bullets from the shuttles.

"Looks like they also use those hover jets to manoeuvre . . . . meaning, that's their weak point."

Boosting to the right, Tasha flew underneath one of the shuttles as the twin lasers tried to follow her. Turning her chest to face upwards, she grabbed at the metal plate containing the hover jet on the bottom left corner of the shuttle. Gripping it firmly with both hands, she pulled on it, straining herself. After a few seconds of struggle, the metal plate tore off, and the shuttle jerked in response. Smiling, Tasha then flew to the other side and boosted as she kicked forward, snapping off the metal plate on the bottom right.

"Try to fly now, you tin brick!"

The shuttle, unable to maintain flight, toppled over and began to fall. It smashed against the side of the tower, cutting through the glass and metal of several floors before splitting in half and beginning to careen towards the ground. The AIM agents started to fire their rifles at Tasha, but she fired two repulsor blasts, knocking back two of the agents and causing the rest to scramble for cover.

The other shuttle opened fire with its twin machine gun turrets, and several struck Tasha's back. Grunting in pain, she fired a weak repulsor blast at the front section, which barely scratched the durable armour of the shuttle. Landing in the meeting room, Tasha jumped over the table, kicking one of the AIM agents in the chest as she did so. Another agent tried to shoot her, but she grabbed the rifle out of his hands and bashed him across the face with it. Throwing the rifle to the ground, she saw the other agents run into the hallway, followed by Brandt.

"Shuttle three! Tear. Her. Apart!"

Tasha looked to the right to see the shuttle aiming its targeting lasers at her. She began running forward as the shuttle opened fire, barely keeping ahead of the stream of bullets as she blasted her way through the wall at the edge of the meeting room. Throwing her right hand into the air, she rapidly fired repulsor blasts at the shuttle without looking as she ran. The twin lasers then disappeared.

"Missile launch detected!" yelled Janice.

The shuttle fired a cluster missile directly ahead of Tasha. She tried to turn around and leap away, but the explosion blasted her through the wall and into another room.

* * *

Pushing himself off the ground, Chen stood up and turned to see the rubble strewn around him. As he started to walk towards the door, he heard Brandt speaking in his ear.

"All agents," said Brandt. "This is Lieutenant Brandt. Regroup on the upper level! Shuttle four has taken the roof, and shuttle three is landing now. We must secure the arc reactor!"

"This is Radioactive Man," replied Chen. "I'm on my way."

As he finished speaking, two security guards ran into the room with pistols. They aimed them directly as Chen.

"Freeze!"

Chen sighed and put his hands.

"Keep your hands above your head!"

Chen smirked.

"Certainly," he said.

His hands glowed with green mist, and then fired two focused beams of radiation. They hit the guards in the torso, causing them to stagger. Within a few seconds, the guards melted into puddles of bloodied biomass. Chen chuckled, and then walked out of the hallway. He looked to his left to see a woman in a business outfit being gunned down by an AIM agent. She then turned to Chen.

"Doctor!"

The agent ran over to Chen.

"We've got to get upstairs and regroup with the others," she said. "Word on the com is that shuttle three took out Stark."

Chen sneered.

"That would be too easy," he said. "Let's get moving."

* * *

Punching open the nearby door, Tasha scanned the corridor ahead of her.

"No life signs detected on this level, ma'am," said Janice. "It appears that the hostiles are congregating near the roof."

"Makes sense," replied Tasha.

"Caution advised. Someone has activated the open roof. The arc reactor will be exposed."

"They're going to airlift it out of here with one of their shuttles," said Tasha. "Time to move."

Tasha lifted off the ground and flew down the hallway.

* * *

Happy rushed into the next room, where he saw a group of people huddling in a corner. Taking out his pistol, he beckoned them over.

"Come on!" Happy shouted. "We've got the evac order! We've got to get out of here, now!"

The group began to walk over to him, and he saw that Pepper and Stane were amongst them.

"Happy, what's going on?" asked Pepper.

"A group of angry beekeepers are trying to take over the building," answered Happy.

"What?!"

"And they're led by some glowing nightstick guy in a hazmat suit."

"Are you sure . . . ."

Happy's eyes widened as he saw two AIM agents turn the corner. The first one pointed forward as the second took a crouching position.

"Take them out!"

"Get down!" shouted Happy.

Pepper jumped back into the room as Happy took a defensive position at the door threshold. Stane stayed under a table near the door with some of the other civilians. The AIM agents fired at the door. After their burst stopped, Happy took a couple of shots, forcing the agents back.

"See?" said Happy.

"Okay, I believe you! I believe you!" shouted Pepper.

Happy got back behind cover as the AIM agents fired again. He popped out to take a few more shots, but the agents returned to their cover. Firing the last shot in his magazine, Happy quickly popped out the empty clip and stuffed a new one into the gun. Cocking it, he felt the vibrations of more bullets colliding with the wall behind him.

Looking out, he saw the door behind the AIM agents burst open, as Rhodes kicked it in. The agents turned after hearing the noise, but Rhodes quickly punched one of the agents away before shooting the other one in the chest with his pistol. The first agent quickly recovered, and was about to attack Rhodes from behind when Happy lined up a shot, firing directly into the agent's head. Rhodes turned aroud as the agent crumpled onto the floor behind him. Rhodes looked over at Happy and the two exchanged a nod.

"Elevator's out?" asked Happy.

"Yeah."

Happy stood up and walked out to the hallway next to Rhodes.

"I've got, like, twenty civilians with me," explained Happy. "We've got to get them out of here."

"Agreed. Come on, let's bring them this way. We'll see if we can pick up more survivors on the way down."

Pepper, Stane and the civilians began to exit the room. Stane looked down at the dead AIM agents, frowning.

"What about Tasha?" asked Happy. "She told me on the way here about her 'project', but even with that . . . . all those guys . . . ."

"The civilians come first," answered Rhodes. "Unfortunately, right now . . . . Tasha's on her own."


	10. Alone Against AIM

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 10: Alone Against AIM

Brandt smiled with satisfaction as the roof of the tower opened. Standing on a small scaffolding that surrounded the large arc reactor, she watched as two dozen AIM agents began walking around the reactor, preparing it for retrieval. One of the shuttles was parked on the solid section of the roof, while another was patrolling the air above the now open section. She then turned around to see Chen walking into the room alongside another agent.

"I want an update on the status of the arc reactor," said Chen.

"We have agents analyzing its power levels as we speak, doctor," replied Brandt. "We'll have it ready for shipment within ten minutes.

"You had better make it faster. We don't know if . . . ."

Chen quickly turned around after hearing a loud crashing noise. Tasha burst into the room, and flew straight for him. He put up his hands and fired his radiation beams at her, blasting her out of the air and causing her to smash into the ground. Skidding along the concrete past him, she rolled into an agent and boosted up, punching him in the face. She then turned around and armed her repulsors. As she did so, all of the AIM agents aimed their weapons at her. Chen laughed and began to slowly clap.

"Quite impressive, Ms. Stark," started Chen, "I don't know where you got the idea for a suit like that. I'd love to analyze it."

Tasha furrowed her brow.

"I'll be sure to give you an extra close inspection," replied Tasha.

"You would have made a valuable member of AIM, Tasha," continued Chen. "Your technological expertise is nearly unparalleled. We didn't want it to be this way."

Chen smirked.

"You forced our hands."

"What do you even want the arc reactor for?"

"A special project we are developing behind closed doors. You might have been able to be part of it, but unfortunately . . . . here we are. I only tell you this as a courtesy; after all, you won't be leaving this building alive, so there's no harm in you knowing."

Inside the helmet, Tasha watched the HUD. She changed the communication channel to interior.

"Janice, give me a targeting solution," whispered Tasha.

"Certainly, ma'am."

Tasha watched for a few seconds as the HUD lit up the various AIM agents. She then swapped the communication channel back to exterior.

"Funny," said Tasha, "since 'no harm' isn't exactly what I would say is appropriate for this situation."

Tasha activated a wrist rocket, which she fired directly at one of the support beams for the arc reactor. The AIM agents scrambled to run away from it as one was torn apart by the blast. The destabilized arc reactor core shuffled slightly down, pulling the scaffolding with it. Brandt lost her footing and fell to the floor. Tasha boosted forward as the stunned AIM agents tried to shoot her.

Punching one agent in the face, Tasha twisted her body to avoid the shots of another. Blasting him with a repulsor shot, she flew into the sky as the other agents regained their footing.

"Janice, launch mini-rockets!"  
"Yes ma'am."

Tasha's shoulder panels opened, revealing a twin set of miniature rocket launchers. Firing a set of rockets, they began blasting apart the floor, blowing away two more agents. Staring at her, Chen threw up his arms and fired beams of radiation. Using her shoulder jets, Tasha boosted laterally to avoid the beams as she fired more repulsors into the crowd of agents, knocking down two more. Brandt stood up and fired her rifle at Tasha, who shielded her face with her arms to deflect them.

"Agents!" yelled Brandt. "Move back! Deploy electric munitions!"

Boosting down, Tasha aimed for Chen with her repulsors, as he charged his hands again. Before she could reach him, she was blasted in the side by a strike of blue electricity. Tasha shrieked as her HUD scrambled and she careened into the nearby wall. Blinking as she grunted, she saw that two of the AIM agents were wielding rifles that were glowing with blue energy. They both fired their rifles at her, blasting her with more electricity. Tasha shrieked again as she fell to her knees.

"Energy levels peaking," said Janice. "System overload in progress."

"Remember our . . . . secret weapon?"

"Yes, ma'am. Converting excess energy to chest RT."

Tasha's breastplate began to glow brighter with energy from her arc reactor. Pushing herself up, the centre of her chest fired a large beam of focused energy, destroying the agents holding the electric rifles. Chen fired two more beams of radiation, which Tasha avoided by rolling forward and boosting towards him. Kicking him in the chest, Tasha spun around to strike him in the face with the back of her other foot.

"Ugh!"

Chen quickly recovered by charging his right hand with his radiation, chopping at Tasha's abdomen. Tasha cringed as the hand chop scarred the suit. Chen then punched her in the breastplate, knocking her back down to the floor. Rolling backwards with the punch, she fired two repulsor blasts at him, which he deflected by throwing up a misty shield of radiation.

Stuffing a glowing blue energy grenade into the launcher on the underbelly of her rifle, Brandt took aim at Tasha as she boosted to dodge more bullets from the other agents. Firing the arc grenade, it exploded in mid-air near Tasha, unleashing a miniature storm of electric energy. Lashing at her limbs, the electricity crippled Tasha's movement. Chen then fired a single radiation blast, blowing her away and through a nearby wall into the next room. He then turned to look at Brandt.

"Take a group down there and finish her off! I'll get the arc reactor out of here!"

Brandt nodded in response before jumping over the railing of the scaffolding and beckoning at the agents.

"Squads one and two, with me! The rest of you, help Radioactive Man with the arc reactor! Shuttle one, fly to the other side of the building and cut off her escape route . . . . we can't let her interfere with the extraction!"

Tasha, who was pulling herself off the floor in the empty rooftop hangar, looked behind her to see another AIM shuttle flying to that side of the building. As it aimed its green targeting lasers at her, she boosted backwards to avoid the stream of bullets. Landing and then kicking off the ground, Tasha flipped backwards and hit the shuttle's front end with a downward punch, knocking it away from the tower.

Taking the time of reprieve, she boosted back into the building to see a dozen AIM agents rush into the room. They were followed by Brandt, who fired another arc grenade from her rifle's launcher. Tasha threw up her energy shield just in time, deflecting the arc grenade so that it landed at the feet of three agents, who were electrocuted by the grenade's energy field. Scowling, Brandt began firing bullets at Tasha, along with the other agents.

Boosting between the columns, Tasha landed on the ground next to an agent. Elbowing her in the face, she turned and blasted a second agent with a repulsor shot. A third agent tried to shoot her, but she dodged, and the bullets hit the first agent in the chest, gunning her down. A fourth agent hit Tasha in the back of the head with her rifle, as the third agent shot her in the chest. Tasha fell to one knee.

"Ma'am, the suit has sustained heavy damage," said Janice. "We're still using the prototype arc reactor, and the suit is hemorrhaging energy . . . ."

"I know!"

Tasha kicked out with her foot, knocking the female agent behind her to the floor. She then punched the rifle out of the third agent's hand and shot him in the face with a repulsor blast, causing him to collapse against a pile of crates. Firing another repulsor blast at a wall near two agents, Tasha rolled with the explosion as it jettisoned her into the air. Spinning around, she blasted a column with her boots, boosting her even further up onto a beam between two columns. She then fired two more repulsor blasts down at the agents, knocking them both out.

Tasha then shrieked again as more bullets struck her back, Looking at her shoulders, she saw that scrapes on the armour were starting to form. Jumping down from the beam, she saw Brandt standing there, with two more agents behind her. As the agents began to fire again, Tasha armed another wrist rocket and fired it. Brandt leaped out of the way, but the explosion consumed the other two agents. Brandt looked back at their crumpled bodies with widened eyes.

"Anya!" Brandt shouted.

Looking back at Tasha with a furrowed brow, Brandt reached down her leg and pulled out a serrated, blue energy blade. Jumping forward, she slashed down at Tasha, who boosted back to avoid the attack. Firing her repulsors forward, Brandt deflected them with the blade. Slicing horizontally, Brandt gashed deep into the armour, damaging the arc reactor in the process.

"Ugh!"

Tasha stumbled under the force of the blow as Brandt slashed at her arm. Tasha moved quickly to punch Brandt's hand, causing her to drop her energy blade. She then spun around and back-handed the rear side of Brandt's neck, knocking her out. As Brandt collapsed, Tasha boosted upwards, and crashed through the roof. Landing on the closed section in a three-point pose, she looked over to the open section to see one of the AIM shuttles hooked onto the arc reactor and flying upwards. Chen and the remaining AIM agents were standing around it.

"So . . . . Radioactive Man," said Tasha.

Chen turned around and gasped.

"Got any more mooks for me to lay waste to?"

"Ma'am, I would not consider egging your opponents on to be the most viable strategy, considering that the armour is on the verge of falling apart."

"Brandt," said Chen. "Lieutenant Brandt! Come in!"

After waiting for a few seconds, Chen sneered. He then pointed at Tasha.

"Shuttle one! Destroy her!"

Tasha looked behind her to see the AIM shuttle she had punched before rising over the roof. Her eyes widened as she watched it fly towards her.

"Ma'am!" shouted Janice. "The shuttle is deploying a carpet bomb!"

The shuttle flew forward, as the bottom hatch opened. A large, black, metallic bomb dropped out of it and began splitting into smaller explosives. Tasha ran forward and boosted off the ground, flying barely out of the reach of the series of explosions which rocked the closed section of the roof. She flew towards Chen, who charged a radiation blast and fired it directly at Tasha, knocking her away. She landed on her back as the explosions subsided.

Tasha groaned as she stared upwards. Chen walked up to her, and placed his left foot on her arc reactor. She shrieked as the pain reverberated through her entire body.

"Such a shame," said Chen, "to waste such a beautiful mind."

Chen aimed his arm at Tasha and began charging a radiation blast.

"Farewell, Stark."

"You really didn't think this one through, did you?" asked Tasha.

Chen narrowed his eyes as he noticed the arc reactor on her chest beginning to glow brighter. His eyes then widened as the unibeam fired, blasting him into the air. Before the AIM agents could react, Tasha boosted upwards, grabbed Chen by the foot, and threw him into the flying AIM shuttle, causing it to crash into the roof and explode.

Turning around, Tasha equipped her arm blade and flew forward, slicing the wires connecting the other AIM shuttle to the arc reactor. The AIM agents scrambled as the arc reactor fell back onto the scaffolding, collapsing it. The shock wave knocked out the remaining agents. The shuttle, destabilized by the weight drop, crashed into the side of the tower. Tasha floated in place for a few seconds before her rocket boots gave out.

"We're now running on emergency backup power, ma'am," said Janice.

Tasha collapsed on the edge of the open section of the roof. Looking over the edge, she saw the arc reactor, with cracks in the glass, as well as the bodies of several AIM agents. Sighing and breathing in deeply, she opened the face mask of the suit as she spent a few moments on her back, staring at the sky. As she slowly breathed, she felt the tension in her muscles fade away.

"Stark!"

Turning her head to the left, she saw Chen slowly walk out of the blazing wreckage of the AIM shuttle. His hazmat suit was charred in several places. Walking with a limp, he began to head towards Tasha. As he spoke, each breath was incredibly laboured.

"You . . . . are . . . . dead . . . ."

Tasha tried to push herself off the ground, but found that her leg was caught under a piece of metallic debris. Chen continued to walk closer.

"You think . . . . you're . . . . some . . . . kind of . . . . hero?"

Tasha gulped and began breathing faster.

"You're . . . . nothing . . . . but a . . . . whore . . . . in a tin can."

Chen reached down and grabbed Tasha by the hair. Holding her up in the air, he sneered at her. He plunged his fist into the arc reactor, tearing a large section of it out of her chest as she screamed in agony.

"Die, bitch."

Pulling his hand back, Chen began charging a radiation blast. Tasha furrowed her brow before reaching forward with her arms. Throwing her right arm around Chen's head, she grasped one of the valves on his back. Twisting and crushing it with her palm, she pulled it off as Chen yelled. Letting her go, he staggered before Tasha grabbed him by the head with both hands and threw him behind her. He fell directly into the arc reactor, smashing the glass and becoming consumed by the blue energy. Tasha looked down into the reactor as it fired a massive pulse, tossing her into the air. She then crashed through the closed section of the roof and collapsed.


	11. Irradiation Destination

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 11: Irradiation Destination

Brandt sneered as she looked around the room. Green mist was slowly enveloping all of the air. She looked down to see the bodies of several AIM agents strewn about the room. Next to the pile of destroyed crates were two more agents.

"Anya!"

Brandt ran over to the two agents, and crouched next to the female one. Placing her ear against the woman's head, Brandt could hear a soft groan. Gasping, she then put her arms around the woman's shoulders. Placing her other arm around the woman's knees, Brandt pulled her up and held her.

"Don't worry, Anya . . . . I'm going to get you home safe."

"Ugh . . . ."

Brandt looked into the helmet, seeing the blonde-haired woman inside it. Her eyes were closed. Breathing heavily, Brandt then opened up her communications channel as she began walking out of the room.

"This is Brandt," she started. "Any agents . . . . report!"

At first, she heard nothing but static. Brandt started breathing faster.

"Report!"

Static.

"This . . . ."

Brandt gasped.

"This is . . . . DeWitt," said a man's voice. "Ugh . . . . I'm in the . . . . arc reactor chamber."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah . . . . some scrapes and bruises, but otherwise . . . . I'm good."

Brandt sighed with relief as she walked through an open door.

"The others doesn't look so great, though," said DeWitt. "The arc reactor is damaged . . . ."

"Just hold tight," commanded Brandt. "I'm on my way to you."

She then heard more static as another voice was heard on the com.

"This is Forson . . . . shuttle three is still active . . . . Stark destroyed the rest."

"Forson!" exclaimed Brandt. "What's your situation?"

"Flying around the tower," replied Forson. "She obliterated shuttles one and four . . . . I can't see anyone inside. You had better hurry and get any survivors out here, because we're leaving."

"Agreed," said Brandt. "I'll try and find the survivors and call you when we're ready."

"Understood, Lieutenant."

Walking into the arc reactor chamber, Brandt looked over at the arc reactor. The glass was cracked, and the energy inside was pulsating between blue and green. More mist filled the room. Brandt's internal helmet HUD showed that the radiation levels were increasing. As she trudged onward, Anya in her arms, she saw DeWitt pulling himself to his feet, holding an assault rifle.

"DeWitt!" shouted Brandt. "Did you find anyone else?"

"No, Lieutenant," answered DeWitt. "Everyone else is gone . . . . but you'd better come see this."

DeWitt walked over to the other side of the arc reactor, leading Brandt. As he reached the other end, he pointed towards the floor. Collapsed on the ground, with pieces of the reactor around him, was Chen.

"Is he alive?"

"According to my readings . . . . yes," answered DeWitt. "Barely, but yes."

"We're getting him out of here," said Brandt. "Forson! Head to the east side of the building. Give us a way out."

"Yes, ma'am."

After a few seconds, Brandt and DeWitt heard a missile collide with the wall from the outside, blowing a hole in the building. The shuttle parked next to the hole and extended a loading ramp. Brandt rushed over to the ramp and handed Anya to an AIM agent who was standing there. She then turned back and looked at DeWitt.

"DeWitt, help me with the doctor."

DeWitt and Brandt ran over to the Chen, and each one took one of his arms in theirs. As they did, Brandt noticed he was clutching a shredded device in his hand. Heaving him up, DeWitt and Brandt walked over to the ramp and pulled him on board.

"Forson, go!"

Once everyone was inside, the ramp closed, and the shuttle blasted off into the sky.

* * *

Coughing violently, Tasha's entire body shook as she placed her weight against a nearby container in the empty hangar. Her blurred vision vibrated as she looked around at the destroyed room. Coughing again, she watched as several drops of blood flew from her mouth and onto the floor.

"Oh . . . . shit . . . ."

"Ma'am!"

Tasha looked down at her hands to see that only her left one was armoured. Her right hand was completely exposed.

"Ma'am!"

"Yeah . . . ."

"The arc reactor core is overloading with radiation," explained Janice. "Apparently, it reacted with Radioactive Man's body, and since you extracted the vibranium core, it couldn't properly channel it . . . . this entire floor is flooding with radiation."

Tasha fell to one knee, breathing laboriously.

"No . . . . shit . . . ."

"Ma'am . . . . your armour has suffered catastrophic damage, and is breached in several places. You've been exposed. Containment is at zero percent."

Tasha pushed herself off the ground again, and wobbled in place as she attempted to maintain her footing.

"Heads-up display is offline. Life support systems are offline. Targeting systems are offline. I've managed to maintain a connection to the Stark Enterprises database, but your arc reactor was torn out during your battle with Radioactive Man . . . . the power won't last very long."

"Ugh . . . ."

"Ma'am . . . . there's something else."

"What?"

"The arc reactor is emitting radiation . . . . and it's overloading. Within a few minutes, it will reach critical levels and detonate . . . ."

Tasha's eyes widened.

"What's . . . . the radius . . . .?"

"The entire building will be destroyed . . . . and the radiation will flood the city. Estimates indicate that between the explosion and the residual radiation poisoning, casualties will be in the millions."

Tasha sighed as she began walking forward.

"Ma'am . . . . the radiation has entered your blood! If we leave now, we might be able to get you to a hospital in time . . . ."

"Don't lie to me, Janice," said Tasha, as she took another step. "I know the math. I'm dead, and I have no way out . . . . but if I don't stop that arc reactor, millions of people are going to die . . . . if I destroy the reactor before it overloads, what happens?"

"The arc reactor's energy should wipe out the radiation . . . . but ma'am . . . . you can barely stand . . . ."

Tasha took another step as blood dribbled from her mouth.

"Where . . . . are . . . . Obadiah . . . . Pepper . . . . Rhodey . . . . Happy . . . ."

"They're still in the building, ma'am."

"If I don't . . . ."

Tasha grunted as she convulsed. Falling against a support column, she began hyperventilating.

"Ma'am!"

"If I . . . . don't . . . . stop it . . . . they die."

Tasha pushed off the column and continued to walk towards the open door. Stepping over the body of an AIM agent, she hobbled onward.

"Ma'am . . . . shall I try to connect one of them through?"

Tasha sighed as she took another step.

"Might as well."

Sputtering, Tasha took another step.

"Ma'am . . . . I've managed to connect Ms. Potts."

"Tasha?"

"Hey . . . . Pep . . . ."

Tasha groaned in pain.

"What happened up there?" asked Pepper.

"Is that Tasha?" asked Stane, whose voice could barely be heard.

"Yes."

"Bad guys . . . . lost . . . ." said Tasha. "Have to . . . . stop . . . . the ar-arc . . . . arc . . . ."

As she was passing through the doorway, Tasha fell onto her knees again. She tried to pull herself up, but collapsed onto her chest, drooling.

"Ma'am!"

"Tasha . . . . what are you doing?!"

"Ms. Potts," said Janice. "Tasha is attempting to destroy the arc reactor before it overloads . . . . but her vitals are dropping steadily. She's been exposed to high concentrations of radiation."

"Then get her out of there!" shouted Pepper.

Tasha started to crawl into the hallway that lead to the arc reactor chamber. She moaned as pain flared all over her body.

"I can't," replied Janice. "Her suit is heavily damaged . . . . her mobility tech is all beyond repair."

Tasha could hear Pepper begin to cry. She grasped at the floor with her hand and pulled her body forward.

"Tasha . . . ." said Pepper, choking back tears.

Tasha sighed and breathed in and out a few times.

"Pep . . . ."

"Tasha . . . ."

"Please . . . ."

Tasha pulled herself forward again.

"Please . . . . don't . . . . do-don't . . . . cry . . . ."

Tasha winced as she heard Pepper crying. Her body started to become numb as the feeling drained from her face and limbs. She heard a small clicking noise, and then Stane's voice.

"Tasha . . . ."

"Ob-Obadiah . . . ."

Tasha continued to crawl forward.

"Y-You . . . . don't have to do this . . . . there's still . . . ."

"No . . . ." replied Tasha. "There isn't."

"But . . . . you're not going to make it!"

Tasha groaned.

"I'll . . . . make it . . . ."

"Tash . . . ."

"Don't worry, Obadiah . . . . I made . . . . a . . . . agh!"

Tasha cringed as she sputtered more blood on the floor.

"Tasha . . . ."

"A . . . . promise . . . ."

She could hear Stane choking up.

"I . . . . pro-promised . . . . to protect . . . . you . . . . t-to . . . . take care of you . . . ."

She could hear a small gasp from Stane's voice.

"And . . . . I'm going . . . . to . . . . k-keep it."

She could hear Stane's breathing.

"Rem-remember . . . . Ob . . . . Obadiah . . . . I will . . . . always . . . . lo . . . ."

Tasha collapsed again as the communications channel closed.

"No remaining power, ma'am . . . . I'm . . . . sorry . . . ."

Janice went silent. Tasha pulled herself forward again, as she saw the arc reactor ahead of her. Aiming her arm, she activated her wrist launcher. Her last rocket loaded and lit up. It then fired at the reactor, blasting it apart. Tasha was winded and knocked back as the reactor exploded, emanating a pulse of blue energy that wiped out the green mist in the area. As she rolled onto her back, the last of her feeling drained away. The world became empty and silent.

* * *

Stane's mouth was open as his hands shook. A tear streamed down his cheek. He then closed his eyes and looked down, shaking his head.

"Janice . . . ." said Rhodes.

"No more readings coming from the armour, Colonel," replied Janice, who was talking through the building's speakers. "No life signs detected . . . . but the arc reactor has been destroyed. The radiation is clearing."

"So . . . ." started Stane, "she's . . . . gone?"

Janice took a moment before responding.

"Yes, Mr. Stane."

Pepper's eyes widened.

"No she's not," said Pepper.

Pepper then started running for the staircase.


	12. Honesty Time

Earth-717: Iron Maiden Vol 1

Chapter 12: Honesty Time

The world became bright and full.

"What . . . ."

Tasha's eyes opened, and she saw Pepper's face.

"Pep-Pepper . . . ."

Pepper smiled, with tears in her eyes. She then reached down and pressed her cheek against Tasha's. Holding her chest against Tasha's, Pepper breathed in and out.

"What is . . . . what . . . . happened?"

Pepper lifted herself off Tasha and grinned.

"You're alive," said Pepper.

"I am?" asked Tasha. "Well . . . . shit."

Tasha's eyes widened as she looked around at the empty arc reactor chamber. She then abruptly sat up.

"The radiation . . . . how are we . . . .?"

Tasha looked down at the wrecked remains of the armour on her body. She then saw the arc reactor in her chest, which was intact, and had a glowing triangular core in the centre. For a few seconds, Tasha stared at it.

"The vibranium core arc reactor . . . ."

Pepper smiled and nodded, wiping a tear from her eye.

"You . . . ."

"I remembered," said Pepper.

Tasha looked up at Pepper and smiled. She then reached around and hugged Pepper, tightly squeezing her close to her. For a few moments, they just sat there, in each other's arms. Tasha let a few tears of joy stream from her eyes. They then let go of each other.

"Janice," said Pepper, "how is she doing?"

"The vibranium core has burned all of the radiation out of Tasha's cells, Ms. Potts," answered Janice. "I am happy to report that Ms. Stark is going to be just fine."

Tasha took in a large breath and closed her eyes for a moment.

"And the building?"

"Out of danger," replied Janice. "You did it, ma'am. Ms. Potts . . . . shall I tell the others to come inside?"

"Yes."

After a second, the door opened, and Stane, Rhodes and Happy walked in. Happy nodded at Pepper with a smile. Rhodes stood next to Pepper. Stane rushed for Tasha and crouched next to her on her left side, opposite Pepper.

"Tasha, are you . . . ."

"I'm fine, Oby."

Stane smiled and sighed, placing his hand on her shoulder. She then grabbed his hand with hers, returning his smile.

"I just can't believe . . . ." Stane started, looking down at the armour.

"Yeah," replied Tasha, "It's a bit crazy. There's a story behind all of this, trust me . . . ."

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Stane.

Tasha's face went straight. For a few seconds, she just stared into Stane's eyes. She looked into his blue pupils, and saw the pain behind them.

"I'm sorry, Obadiah. I'm sorry . . . . about everything. About cutting you out, about pushing you aside . . . . about not trusting you with this."

Stane raised an eyebrow.

"You've always been there for me . . . . I forgot how much I needed you."

Tasha squeezed Stane's hand before letting it go. She then looked at Rhodes.

"Rhodey . . . . help a girl up?"

As Rhodes grabbed Tasha's other hand and pulled her to her feet, Stane watched with slowly narrowing eyes.

* * *

Brandt kept her head pointed down as she approached the door to Killian's office. Stopping in front of it, she put up her fist, as if to knock. Holding her hand in place for a few seconds, she then lowered it, before proceeding to unbutton the top two buttons on her blouse. Sighing, she then knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Brandt grasped the handle and turned it. As the door opened, Killian came into view. He was sitting at his desk in a beige suit, his hands against each other, with each fingertip touching its counterpart on his other hand. He smirked at Brandt as she walked into the room.

"Take a seat," said Killian.

Gulping, Brandt sat down in the chair facing his desk. She ran her hands down her legs, gently massaging them for a moment before putting them in her lap.

"Um . . . ."

"Report, Miss Brandt."

"We . . . . uh . . . . failed, sir."

"Explain yourself."

Brandt gulped again.

"W-We . . . . attacked Stark Tower . . . . a-as you requested, sir," started Brandt. "However, we ran into . . . . complications . . . ."

"Such as?"

"Tasha Stark . . . . she had . . . . some s-sort of . . . . secret weapon, sir. A s-suit of armour . . . . it was like . . . . nothing I-I've ever seen."

Killian sighed as his breathing slowed. Brandt began breathing faster.

"I'm s-sorry, sir," said Brandt. "Only Forson, DeWitt, Burchill, the doctor and myself made it back. W-We also brought Anya, but she's in . . . . critical condition."

Killian narrowed his eyes.

"You're sweating."

Brandt shook in fear as she wiped her forehead.

"Um . . . . sorry, sir."

Killian smiled before standing up from his chair. He walked around the desk and sat down on it in front of her.

"Are you afraid of me, Miss Brandt?"

Brandt quivered in her seat.

"Y-Yes . . . . sir."

Killian smiled before placing his hand on her cheek.

"My love . . . . I don't want you to be afraid of me," said Killian. "I would never hurt you."

"You . . . . wouldn't?"

"Never. Besides, your mission wasn't a failure."

Brandt raised an eyebrow as she stopped shaking.

"It wasn't?"

"Not at all. We managed to get exactly what we wanted . . . . albeit, not exactly in a way I would have expected. As well, there's no evidence that could link the attack back to AIM."

Killian walked back around the table and opened a drawer. He then pulled out the shredded device that Chen was holding and tossed it on the desk. Brandt's eyes widened.

"That . . . . the doctor was holding that when we brought him back!"

"Indeed he was," said Killian. "That, my dear, is a large portion of a miniaturized arc reactor . . . . the kind that is in Tasha Stark's chest . . . . and, although it is damaged, it appears that we're going to be able to obtain some very valuable data off of it."

Brandt smiled.

"Wow."

"There's something else, too," said Killian. "Our green asset sent me a very interesting set of schematics."

Killian tapped a button on his remote, and a hologram screen appeared over his desk. It then showed a three-dimensional schematic image of a suit of power armour.

"I didn't even know that this project existed . . . ."

"Sir . . . ." started Brandt, "what is that?"

"That, my love, are the prototype schematics for the Mark Two Sentinels."

"Mark Two?"

"They never left the design stage, but of course, the rights now belong to Bolivar Trask . . . . but apparently, these designs are part of what inspired Stark's . . . . 'secret weapon'. Now, they belong to AIM, and I have the perfect idea of who to sell them to."

Brandt raised her eyebrow again.

"Call General Ross," ordered Killian. "Tell him I've found a solution to his . . . . problem."

* * *

Tasha stood still as Stane buttoned up the top button on her shirt. He then placed his hands on her cheek and smiled at her.

"Am I going to be okay?" asked Tasha.

Stane blinked and nodded as he took his hands off her cheeks.

"You're going to do great," replied Stane. "You always do."

"Thanks, Ob . . . ."

Tasha stopped as Stane turned his head slightly to the left.

"Obadiah. Thank you."

Stane gently slapped Tasha on the shoulder.

"I'll always be there for you."

"I know."

Pepper walked into the room.

"The press is ready for you, Tasha," said Pepper. "Also, I just got off the phone with Doctor Hall. Him and his team are moving to the other Project Pegasus facility to Miami."

Tasha nodded and gave Pepper a thumbs up. She then patted her chest down and walked past Stane, who watched her leave the room. Walking down the hallway with Pepper, they passed both Rhodes and Happy, who were standing guard at both sides of the hallway's entrance into the press hall. Around two hundred members of the press were in the hall, all watching Tasha as she walked around them and stood up on the podium.

"Members of the press," started Tasha, "thank you for coming."

The press members all watched her as she stood still for a moment. She looked past them to see Stane, Pepper, Happy and Rhodes all looking at her with smiles.

"I called this press conference so that I could address the terrorist attack on my tower. Two days ago, at nine thirty four in the morning, four shuttles of currently unknown origin assaulted Stark Tower."

Tasha looked down to see Christian sitting in the first row of the press group. He had his arms folded and was looking at her with a face of disdain.

"They killed seventeen members of my staff, and caused billions of dollars in property damage," continued Tasha. "Now, no one has taken responsibility for this act of violence, but rest assured . . . ."

"Excuse me," interrupted Christian. "Ms. Stark?"

"Yes?"

"What about the dozens of eye witness accounts of some sort of flying armoured hero that stopped the attack?" asked Christian. "The military did not respond in time to combat the terrorists . . . . and apparently there were sightings of this . . . . superhero, who has been dubbed 'Iron Maiden', during the day of the attack. Are you saying that you have nothing to do with that?"

Tasha chuckled.

"Look, I don't want to give anyone a false impression . . . ."

Christian rolled his eyes. Tasha sighed as she looked at the faces of the press. She then looked again at her friends in the back, who had faces of concern. Taking a moment to breathe, Tasha then looked at the press members.

"The truth is . . . ."

Tasha smiled.

"I am Iron Maiden."

THE END

Iron Maiden Will Return

* * *

Epilogue

Killian sneered as he looked into the operating room. On the table, was the damaged, naked body of Anya, who was being operated on by several mechanized surgeons. She was screaming in pain as they installed an artificial leg where her organic left leg had originally been. Brandt was standing next to him, with tears in her eyes. DeWitt was sitting at the computer console in front of them. He was staring at the operating file, which read 'Anya Vanko'.

"Will she," started Brandt, "be alright?"

DeWitt sighed.

"Yes, but these experimental mechanical implants are the only way to save her life."

Killian narrowed his eyes.

"We're going to make her better than ever," said Killian.

"How?" asked Brandt.

"DeWitt, I want you to re-open file one eighteen. Designation . . . . Crimson Dynamo."


End file.
